Never Had A Dream Come True
by shannonlorraine
Summary: Yumi has been Riku's best friend forever. But when she tells Riku a secret, she ends up on a crazy adventure trying to save the world with Sora? Things couldn't be worse. T for language. OCxSora Potential RikuxKairi
1. Hi There Wonder Trio

_**I do not own anything besides Yumi**_

**Name: Yumi**

**Age: 16**

**Looks: Brownish red hair, blue/grey eyes, 5'4"**

Destiny Islands. Was there any better place to be? Summer break was coming to an end and I decided to spend my day laying on the beach and working on my tan.

_'Could this day get any better?'_ I thought as my iPod switched to the next song.

Although I had spent most of my day alone on the beach, I was perfectly happy with that. I usually hung around Tidus and Wakka, but they had both decided to go on some camping trip, and I **refuse** to willingly spend a weekend somewhere where there is no indoor plumbing. That's just my philosophy.

I got up to turn over when I heard someone laughing off in the distance.

_'Oh no...please don't be who I think you are. I was having SUCH a great day.'_

I sat up and looked in the direction of where the noise was coming from. Sure enough, I saw three figures off in the distance.

_'Sigh, so much for my peaceful day of tanning. Guess it's for the better...melanoma and all.'_

I quickly threw on my tee shirt and jean shorts and began to pack up my belongings before the three musketeers could come over and ruin my peaceful sile-

"Hey, isn't that Yumi?!" I heard a girl say.

_'Crap'_

The figures began running towards me as I picked up my bag and grabbed my sandals.

"Yumi! Hi!" the girl said.

"Oh, hi Kairi, Sora, Riku," I grumbled back.

"We were just about to have a picnic. Care to join?" Kairi asked, with a genuine smile on her face.

"Oh no, that's okay. I wouldn't want to impose," I responded. "And besides, I was just about to head home and get some groceries."

"You sure? We packed enough food for another person," the spiky haired Sora piped in.

_'Sometimes...that kid really doesn't get it'_

"No, really, I'm fine. Thanks though."

"Probably for the best. Sora was planning to eat that extra share anyway!" Riku joked, smiling at me.

I smiled back to the silver haired lad and let out a small giggle.

Sora made a mad face at Riku and walked away in a huff, with Kairi following behind him laughing.

"You should go catch up to your 'buddies' Riku. They'll be missing their comic relief after awkward romantic tension," I snorted.

He rolled his eyes and pulled me into a hug, which I strongly fought against.

"Oh you and your jokes Yumi," he said, giving me a noogie. "We're still on for dinner tonight, right? I wanna know this big news!"

I escaped from his deathly grip and fixed my hair.

"First of all, **never** do that again. Second, yeah, just come over when you're done with 'Destiny Islands Dynamic Duo' or whatever new title they have," I said sarcastically.

Riku frowned, and I immediately felt guilty.

"Sorry...it just really bothers me how innocent and naive they are."

He shrugged and said, "Sometimes, I think it's all an act. But hey, what do I know right?"

He let out a weak sigh and I nudged his chin.

"Smile sunshine, and I'll see you later."

With that, he was on his way after Sora and Kairi.

I began my trek back to my house and began to let my mind wander.

I bet you're wondering why that whole scene just went down right? Well, let me explain as I daze off into my own mind for awhile.

I've always been here on Destiny Island, which means I did grow up with Sora and Riku. Riku and I have been neighbours and best friends since I was born. His mom and my mom were best friends, and they made sure their kids would have the same bond they did. So, it was inevitable we would be the way we were. I was homeschooled until about the 6th grade, and once I was transferred into grade school I didn't really have many friends. Riku, being a year older than me, was not in my class. However, Tidus, being the ever so bold child that he is, decided he was going to become my best friend as soon as I sat at my desk. Since I was the "new girl on the scene" and we were still at that age when having something new was better than having something reliable and older, majority of the boys seemed to take an interest in becoming my friend, while the girls seemed to dislike me for being the boys newest interest. Although Sora was one of those boys who was initially interested in me for being new, he quickly got over it and hung out with Kairi and Riku at school like he always did. I never hung out with them because Kairi was still mad about me being the "new girl" rather than her.

Things were never really settled between Kairi and me (although I don't know why anything had to be settled) until we were about 14. When Sora and Riku began their epic adventure, things changed for all of us. But that's a tale for a different day. Moral of the story: when Kairi came home she seemed different...nicer almost. She seemed to have forgotten any issues we had and just wanted to be friends. Now I'm not entirely full of myself, but I was not just about to drop my guard and become her best friend. Our current relationship reads, "You're not bad, but you aren't fantastic. We could be friends if we tried but due to previous circumstances, we won't try." Confusing right?

As for Sora...I just can't deal with his perma-prep. How is it possible for one person to be that happy all the time?! That rule also applies to Kairi, but that's beside the point. I know Sora doesn't think I know about all his adventures, but I do. And I know Riku doesn't know that I know about his adventures, but I do. I know a lot more than I let on. I know Riku doesn't know much about my adventures either. And tonight, I plan to tell Riku. I plan to tell him everything and anything that I can, because I'm sick of hiding it all from him.

As I walked into the market I picked out everything and anything I'd need for dinner that night. I wanted to wow Riku; I wanted to make the dinner great so he would be focussed more on the food than the story. I also just plain wanted to impress the kid. Don't get me wrong, Riku was gorgeous and I was not about to deny it. But he was like a brother to me, so there was NO way it was gunna go farther than him being eye candy. I always kinda felt like I was plain in comparison of the wonder trio, so maybe I could get an upper hand on my cooking skills.

After purchasing everything I would be in need of that night I walked home to an empty house. My parents decided that it was time for them to go on a vacation with Riku's parents since it had been, "So long since they had alone time as adults." Not like they had three whole years of that...Nevertheless I decided this was a blessing in disguise. I love my parents, but I also just loved my time to be alone and think. Blasting my stereo from the living room I began to prep everything for a dinner.

I'm not really sure how long I had been doing what I do when I felt someone come up and grab me around the waist. I jumped and let out a little yelp as I turned to see Riku's stunning eyes smiling at me.

"Rude..." I mumbled, walking over to my stereo and turning the music down.

"You know, you should really lock your door," Riku commented with a smirk on his face. "Someone who isn't as nice as me could have come in here and snatched you."

I rolled my eyes as I walked back into the kitchen and stirred the pasta on the stove. Riku hopped up on the counter and started swinging his legs back and forth in a child like manner and I couldn't help but laugh.

"Someone's in a good mood," I commented, as his smile grew. "What happened to you today?"

"I just received the best news ever," he said, that smile never leaving his face.

There was silence for a few moments and I drained the pasta.

"So...are you going to tell me what it is?" I asked as I plated the food and headed towards the table.

Riku got up and followed me, shaking his head and saying, "No, I wanna hear your big news before I say anything."

I sighed and sat down at my spot at the table.

"Can we eat first and then I'll tell you? I feel like it'll be less fatal for me if you can't run after me with your food baby."

Riku gave me a sceptical look but reluctantly nodded, knowing I wasn't really going to give him a choice.

We made small talk during dinner, just talking about random things, and once we were done I walked into the kitchen and brought out dessert.

"Oh no..." was Riku's response as I placed the freshly homemade cheesecake in front of him.

"What?" I asked, rather confused.

"You made cheesecake."

"And?"

"Well, whenever you make cheesecake it's always because you have bad news."

I thought about it for a moment, and realized he was right.

"Oh...call it my signature then."

There were a few moments of silence, before I sighed and took off an apron I completely forgot I was wearing, wringing it in my hands to build up the confidence I knew I was going to need to face him.

"Riku...three years ago, when the island was covered in darkness...where...where did you tell me you went?" I asked, not making eye contact.

I could tell he was giving me a weird look, but he responded.

"I told you, I don't really remember much besides a lot of weird darkness."

I sighed, shaking my head. I knew he wouldn't tell me the truth, which kind of hurt.

_'I did the same thing though...can't be a hypocrite.'_

"Riku, I know you're lying," I stated as I looked up at him.

His face was turning a bit pale, so I continued on.

"Three years ago our island was attacked by heartless. They were in search of the keyhole for our world. The night of the storm, you were faced with a decision, as was Sora: light or dark? You chose the path of darkness, while Sora chose light."

"How...how did you..." he trailed off.

"I know everything Riku. Everything you've kept a secret, I know. Because that night, I was faced with that same decision. I wasn't sure which I wanted. I felt like I wasn't good enough for the light, but not bad enough for the dark. So, I was tossed from one to the other until I landed in a new world. It was there that I met the King."

"You know the King?!" he interjected.

I nodded, and his eyes urged me to continue.

"While Sora travelled with Donald and Goofy - because yes, before you ask I know all about him being the bearer of the Keyblade and Kairi being a princess - and while you worked for Maleficent, I travelled with the King. Once you completely dove into the darkness, WHICH, by the way, I'm kicking your ass for later, the King knew he had to help you. He instructed me to work with DiZ as you faced your inner battles."

"But I worked with DiZ too...and I never saw you!" he commented, making me smile a bit.

"Well, once we had discovered you were going to survive and we realized we needed to use you to help get Sora back on track, I left. What was I needed for anymore right? And besides, someone had to protect the worlds while you two were busy," I joked, causing him to look even more confused.

"Anyway...when Sora started his next adventure, I took some time off to come home and catch up on school. Which is why Kairi never mentioned anything about me not being here. I needed to get ahead and make sure I'd be ready if you guys ever needed me. And that, my dear friend, is my biggest secret."

There was silence for a few moments. I began to clean everything up, knowing Riku was going to need time to let everything sink in. That still did not keep me from being any less nervous as I tried to focus on cleaning the dishes from dinner.

_'This was a mistake. A terrible, horrible, stupid mistake.'_


	2. A Dime A Dozen

**Dun dun duuuuuuuuunn...chapter two. It gets better, I promise. Review please and lemme know what you think!**

I had the urge to cry, but instantly stopped myself. Why should I be upset? I was honest, and being honest is nothing to be ashamed of.

After finishing the dishes I began to wash the sink, when I heard Riku walk in the room. I stopped what I was doing and turned around and looked at him. He was...smiling?

As he walked towards me he said, "So tell me, oh wise one. If you were off protecting the worlds, how did you manage to fight?"

I sighed. I had been doing a lot of that, come to think of it. Need to save me some oxygen!

"You really wanna know?" I asked, and he nodded.

I closed my eyes and felt a familiar tingle in my fingertips, followed by a metal object in my hand.

"No way..." I heard him breathe out and I chuckled.

"Didn'tcha know Riku? These things are a dime a dozen lately. You, Kairi, Sora, King Mickey, and me. We should make a movie about it," I teased as he stared at my blade.

There was nothing too special about it. It looked a lot like the Kingdom key, the only real difference was the light pink handle with black designs engraved on it.

I handed it to Riku as I turned to put the dishes away.

"You can look at it all you like...it's not like I'll never get it back."

As he handed me the keyblade back he asked me what I had actually done on my adventures, so we sat at the table again as I told him about everything I actually did on my adventure. I talked about all the worlds I visited and all the friends I made. The battles I fought in and the enemies I faced and I could tell he was worried about me and proud of me all at the same time.

"...and then I wound up back at home. Waiting for you losers," I concluded, and suddenly a lightbulb turned on in his mind.

"And that look is for...?" I trailed off, as he abruptly stood.

"We need to tell Sora and Kairi." he stated, pulling me off the couch.

"Pardon me?! Riku, I could barely tell you without freaking out. I'm not telling Barbie and Ken over there about my life's adventures," I protested, as he literally dragged me out of my house.

"They need to know Yumi, this involves them too," he said as he lifted me up to carry me over his shoulder.

"Uhm, not really. So you can just turn around now," I grunted, flailing around in hopes he would drop me.

He didn't.

He began to walk to a house that I knew was Kairi's as I began to panic.

"RIKU, I AM NOT GOING TO SAY ANYTHING. PUT ME DOWN."

He knocked on the door, completely ignoring me.

_'How rude...'_

A few moments later I saw the brunette...pink haired girl...red head? I couldn't remember, that girl changed her hair colour so often I don't even think she knew. I'd have to ask her about that.

"Riku? ...Yumi?" I heard her ask, as I tried to wave at her while I was hanging upside down.

"Well hiya!" I said, making Kairi give me a weird look.

"We need to talk...it's about our past," he said.

Kairi immediately moved to the side as Riku walked into her house.

He carried me to the living room and placed me on the couch. He walked over to Kairi and told her he was going to call Sora, so she needed to keep an eye on me.

_'As if she could take me on...'_

As she sat down on the couch across from me, I decided I should try and make some small talk to make things less awkward.

"So...Kairi...I couldn't help but notice your hair is...pink today is it? Yes, yes, pink. I hope this doesn't sound rude, but how DO you change its colour so often?" I asked, genuinely wondering how she did it.

She smiled at me, as if to agree that this was probably a commonly asked question, and replied, "Demi permanent hair dye. This is my natural colour right now, but as we all know, girls go through that 'I wanna be different' phase, so I invested in a lot of it. Red was okay for awhile, but it faded too fast. And brown looked okay, but it was too much upkeep to dye my roots."

I nodded, quite pleased we were getting along, as we continued this conversation until Riku and Sora walked in. Kairi and I were actually getting along and laughing, which caused the boys to make weird faces as they sat down in the room and waited for us to calm down.

"Oh...oh my goodness. What a good story," I said as I wiped away some tears and sat up on the couch, Kairi doing the same.

The room became silent.

"So...anyone wanna play Jenga?" I asked.

Sora started to get up to play when Riku pulled him back on his seat.

_'Party pooper.'_

"Riku, why are we here?" Sora asked, and Kairi nodded.

Riku pointed at me, and I gasped.

"ME?! I believe it's your fault we're here. I was perfectly content staying at home and eating cheesecake; cheesecake you can drown your feelings in. But no, you wanted to come here and talk."

I huffed.

"Stupid Riku..."

"I heard that."

"I DON'T CARE. I WANNA GO HOME."

"And do what? Live a lie?"

"Seems you three have been doing that for QUITE some time now...so yes, yes I would."

Again...silence.

Sora finally broke the silence.

"Guys...I still don't get it. And all I want is that cheesecake Yumi was talking about now."

Kairi and Riku rolled their eyes and I smiled.

"Yumi, can you just tell them what we talked about?" Riku whined.

"No."

"But they need to know!"

"No."

"I'll tell them if you don't."

"No."

"JUST TELL THE-"

He was cut off by a sudden black out.

"Oooo, cool," I commented.

Riku grabbed my hand and pulled me up.

"We'll go check the fuses," he said, as we walked downstairs.

"Of course we will because we know exactly where we're going..." I commented as I was being dragged away.

As we walked downstairs to where I assumed the fuse box was, Riku began talking.

"Yumi. I understand this is hard for you, but you really need to tell them what happened. It'll be beneficial to all of us in case we do need to team up in the future. If something went bad we all need to rely on each other. And I know just as much as you do that relying on people you don't know is something that always turns out bad."

_'Stupid Riku and his wise words of wisdom...'_

"Fine...I'll tell them," I huffed as the lights turned back on.

"SORA!" I heard Kairi yell.

Riku and I looked at each other before booking it up the stairs.


	3. Just Like Riku

Riku and I burst into the living room to see Sora fighting off heartless and Kairi trying to help.

Riku summoned his sword and gave me a look.

"Gunna sit around and stare or help?" he retorted as he leapt into the battle.

"Here goes nothing," I muttered to myself, as I summoned my keyblade.

No one seemed to notice since they were all doing their own thing, which was perfectly fine by me.

The heartless weren't strong; it was mostly just soldiers and shadows. It was just the fact that there were so many of them that we couldn't keep up. I looked over and saw Sora fall on one knee, signifying he was too tired to fight.

"Sora, GET YOUR ASS UP," I screeched, as I made my keyblade disappear so I could run over and grab him.

As I picked him I looked at Riku and nodded my head towards the door, and he nodded back as he ran for Kairi.

As soon as I stepped into Kairi's yard the entire house was consumed by a dark barrier.

"RIKU! KAIRI!" Sora shouted as he stood up.

Sora summoned his blade with new found strength and began to smash the shield.

I was frozen in a stance of pure fear as I saw a hooded man floating above the house.

Once Sora realized I wasn't helping him he turned to look at me with an angry expression, but then it suddenly fell to confusion after he saw me.

"What are you doing?!" he asked, with a sense of anger in his voice.

I just pointed to the roof.

"Who...who is that?" he asked me as I shook my head.

Suddenly someone from a black portal appeared from beside him and they began to talk.

"Did you get what we were coming for?" the second figure said, his having a lower tone.

"Yes, my liege, all four of them are in the house," the first commented.

I suddenly realized they had no idea Sora and I weren't in the house, so I grabbed him and hid behind a few trees.

Before he could even make a noise I covered his mouth with my hand and whispered, "Sora, these people are after us. They don't know we aren't in there so keep your mouth shut so we can stay hidden."

"But Riku and Kai-"

"Riku can take care of himself and Kairi for right now. It's better if we find out what those men are doing so we can' help them from the free world than the trapped one. Trust me and shut your face."

I turned back around to try and here the floating men.

"...and soon our plan will be complete. We have everything we need. The light, the darkness, the in between and the princess. Let's get them back to show our queen," I could hear the one with the deeper voice say.

"But Xemnas, I thought we didn't need that witch," the second one said as he removed his hood.

"Saix?" I heard Sora mutter as I shushed him.

The man, Xemnas as I had now discovered, let out a hearty laugh.

"All in good time Saix. But for now we need to please her. Get her to trust us. Then we can have our final victory. Kingdom Hearts!"

I couldn't help but gasp. What in the name of King Mickey were these people talking about?! Taking Kingdom Hearts?!

Sora, being the bold impatient kid he is, jumped from our hiding spot to go after these two men.

"Are yeah FREAKING kidding me?!" I groaned, jumping up after him.

But before we could even get close to the house, it disappeared.

"Wh-what?!" Sora gaped, looking at the spot where the house was.

"No way..." I mumbled, as I just stared.

Sora and I just stood, side by side, staring at where the house used to be, when suddenly it reappeared.

We looked at each other hesitantly and walked towards the house.

Sora walked in first, completely unaware of what to expect, and I was hot on his heels. We walked through the entire house and found nothing out of the ordinary except for the fact that Kairi and Riku weren't there.

"Where do you think they went?" I asked, completely clueless as to what was going on.

"I can think of a few places, but I'm not sure," Sora responded, sounding rather sad.

"I can't believe it. I tell that kid my BIGGEST secret and he up and leaves with some other girl. How rude Riku, how gosh darn rude," I said with a forced smile. "Well, only thing left to do is try and go find them."

Sora looked at me funny.

"How are we supposed to do that?"

I just shook my head.

"C'mon key boy, let's go."

I started walking towards the front door and realized I was walking alone.

"You coming?" I questioned.

"Huh? O-Oh!" he responded as he snapped back into reality.

"Here's the deal: you're going to go home, tuck yourself into bed, and go to sleep pretending this never happened. In two or three days, depending on how long this is going to take, I'll be back with your lover dearest and your best ol' buddy. So goodnight and I'll see yeah tomorrow!"

With my epic speech ended, I spun on my heel and attempted to walk towards my house, when I stopped at the sound of Sora's voice.

"And what exactly are you going to do? Search the island expecting this to be a big magic trick?!"

"N-yeah, sure...let's go with that," I responded, realizing he didn't know anything.

_'Touché blade boy...touché'_

He huffed.

"You got a better idea?" I commented back, as his eyes got large and he looked away from me. "Thought so. So I'll see yeah when I see you next."

And with that, I began my trek home; planning in my mind everything I was going to need to rescue my friends.

_'Here I go again.'_

**Sora's POV**

I walked home and was greeted by my mom cleaning the living room.

"Oh Sora, thank goodness you're alright! I saw that big black thing over Kairi's house and I knew you were over there," my mom said, coming and hugging me.

I didn't hug her back.

"...what's wrong?" she asked, seeing the look on her face.

Now, my mom knew everything about my past. Call me dumb, or loyal, or whatever else you want. She was my mom and I loved her. I couldn't lie to her about where I had been for three years, so I just up and told her. What would you have done?

"Riku and Kairi...they...I don't know what happened mom," I kept looking at the ground.

She brought me over to the couch and I told her what happened. Mom advice is the best advice, so I figured she would know what to do.

When I was finished she had a sad smile on her face and said, "Well, it looks like you'll be going on another adventure."

I sighed and nodded, knowing she was right.

"Maybe you should ask that Yumi girl to go with you," my mom said as she stood up to go into the kitchen. "She seems to know a thing or two about fighting and she could be of help. She wants to find Riku probably just as bad as you wanna find Kairi."

I knew she was right, again. I just didn't want to have to explain my past to someone else.

"And I know you don't want to explain the story to her, dear. But you need her."

_'Stupid mom, always knowing what I'm thinking.'_

I figured I would go to bed and catch Yumi early before her "island quest" so I could get her help. With that thought in mind I walked upstairs and started to pack a bag.

_'I'm going to have to contact Donald and Goofy somehow to get a ship, and then maybe all four of us can travel together. With Yumi not knowing much about fighting it would really help me.'_

After I finished packing I crawled into my bed, just thinking about what my future held for me.

**Next Morning**

I got up just before the sun rose, trying to keep quiet so my mom and dad wouldn't wake up.

As I walked into the kitchen I grabbed a banana and saw a note from my mom.

_Dear Sora,_

_Your father and I love you so very much. We're so proud of you and everything you do. Be safe, and make sure you make good choices. We believe in you._

_Love,_

_Mom and Dad_

I smiled and realized there was something scribbled on the back

**Kick some ass son**

**-Dad**

...good ol' pops.

I headed out the door and headed to Yumi's house, practicing what I was going to say to her.

"'Hey Yumi, maybe it'd be better if we teamed up and beat this guy!' ...No. 'Yo, Yumi, let's go kick some heartless ass together.' DEFINITELY NO. 'Hey Yumi, it seems we're trying to obtain a common goal.' Ew, no. 'Hi Yumi, I-"

I stopped mid sentence as I saw her walk out of her house.

_'Here goes...'_

As I walked towards her I suddenly saw her run towards the docks.

I took off after her, wondering what she was doing, but I stayed back far enough to make it look like I wasn't a stalker.

She jumped in a boat and took off towards the island and I did the same. Either she was really determined to find our friends on this island or she had some sort of secrets. And I hate secrets.

After tying up her boat she went to the back side of the island into a woods like area. I slowly lost her in the amount of trees but pressed on, knowing I'd find her somewhere. I started to see a clearing so I figured I'd head there are try and get my bearings, when I suddenly slowed to almost a complete stop. I couldn't believe my eyes.

"YOU HAVE A GUMMI SHIP?!"

**Yumi's POV**

I cringed, hearing Sora's voice from the trees.

_'Knew someone was following me...that sneaky child.'_

I turned around and looked at him as he walked out of the trees.

"Oh hey Sora!" I tried to play dumb, just to see if I could lie my way through this.

"SINCE WHEN DO YOU HAVE A GUMMI SHIP?!" he asked again, and I shrugged.

"What's a Gummi ship? OH, you mean this thing?" I pointed at the ship with my thumb. "Yeah I kinda just stumbled upon it one day. It was sort of just chilling here."

"And I'm afraid to swim. We're both just so convincing. Seriously, where'd you get this?"

He sounded agitated.

"You hate swimming?! Well that's just unfortunate...since you live on a beach and all."

I received a look.

"...FINE, yes, this is my ship. I built it."

"Where did you get the parts?"

"That my dear friend, is a secret."

He sighed and we stood in silence.

"So...why were you following me anyway?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

He blushed. How odd.

"Well, I wanted to ask if you would accompany me to find Kairi and Riku in different worlds. But apparently you were going to do that anyway. I see you had other intentions to go alone though..." he trailed off.

"No, that's fine. I'm sure you can handle going on your own adventure, because I'm going alone. Solo. Singular," I snapped.

"...Oh, I see how it is. You're one of THOSE PEOPLE," he commented after a few minutes.

"Excuse me?"

"You're one of those people! Those people who think they're better than everyone else and they don't need help. They can do everything on their own because they're so great. Well good for you, fine. I'll help someone who actually needs it."

I walked over to him, fuming that he would do something like that.

"FIRST OFF, blade boy, you don't know me. So don't act all high and mighty I-saved-the-universe-cause-I-know-everything because hey, guess what, YEAH DON'T. SECOND OF ALL, watch who you're speaking too. I will put you in your place in a matter of SECONDS. THIRD, you want someone else's help? Fine, I'll take you somewhere where you can get ALL the help you'll need. Pack a bag, say bye to your mama and papa; we're leaving in an hour."

Sora smiled and walked away, letting out a small comment before he left.

"Knew it. You're exactly like Riku."

...I refuse to allow him to be right.


	4. Know What?

I gave Sora exactly one hour.

I packed everything I had brought for my voyage, set our coordinates, and set a timer so that if he wasn't there in 60 minutes, I was going to leave.

Unfortunately, he was there with 15 minutes to spare.

"Ready?" he asked me, as he sat in the driver's seat.

"As soon as you get out of my seat, yes, we can leave," I replied as I pulled him by his hair out of my seat.

"HEY, OKAY, OKAY I'M MOVING," he whined, sitting in a seat on the other side of the ship.

"Good boy."

With that, we lifted off.

I had missed travelling, and it wasn't until that moment I realized it. How sad is that, it took my friends being kidnapped for me to realize that. Nevertheless I quickly adjusted to my surroundings and my usual ways.

"So where are we going?" Sora asked.

_'Couldn't just enjoy the silence...had to go and kill it. YOU KILLED MY PRECIOUS SILENCE.'_

"Yumi..."

"Oh! Sorry, dazed off there...but we're going to go see the King. Hopefully I can just leave you there..." I muttered the last part.

"Pardon?"

"NOTHING!"

I put the ship on auto pilot and stood up to stretch.

"I'm going to go get a drink. Feel free to wander the ship, but do not go into my bedroom, and do not touch the controls," I told him as I headed for the kitchen.

There wasn't anything too spectacular about my ship. I had a small kitchen area, three bedrooms (one mine, one used to be Mickey's, and a spare just in case), a bathroom, the cockpit, and a little common area. But it was a little bit nicer than most, I made sure of that. It was clean and actually kinda homey, not all futuristic and fake.

As I poured myself a cup of juice I saw Sora's chocolate spikes peak around the corner.

"Pretty nice place you got here," he commented.

I just nodded and headed back to the cockpit. I hadn't used my auto pilot in awhile so I wasn't sure how well it was going to work. I needed to update my maps, kinda like a GPS.

I had been sitting at my post for some time and Sora hadn't returned. The silence was burning into my skull, so I put some music on to kill it.

_'I am such a hypocrite...but this silence was asking for it so I don't feel bad.'_

The opening chords to Whitesnake's "Here I Go Again" came on, and I laughed.

_'Wasn't I just thinking that an hour ago?'_

As the song sped up I couldn't help but join in. Curse you Whitesnake...

"HERE I GO AGAIN ON MY OOOOWWWWNNN. GOING DOWN THE ONLY ROAD I'VE EVER KNOOOWN! LIKE A DRIFTER I WAS BORN TO WALK ALOOOONE. AND I'VE MADE UP MY MIIIINNNND. I AIN'T WASTING NO MORE TIIIMMMMEEE. HERE I GO AGAIN ON MY OOOOOWWWNNN. GOING DOWN THE ONLY ROAD I'VE EVER KNOOOOOWWWNN. LIKE A DRIFTER I WAS BORN TO WALK ALONE. CAUSE I KNOW WHAT IT MEAAAANS. TO WALK ALONG THE LONELY STREET OF DREAMS. HERE I GO AGAIN!"

Suddenly the music turned down and I could feel my face get warm.

"...awkward," I muttered.

Sora let out a small laugh.

"If it makes you feel any better, you aren't totally awful. And you aren't 'going again on your own,'" Sora said, using air quotes.

"Excuse me, but there's no way you'd be able to handle me actually singing. And soon enough I will be on my own, don'tcha forget kiddo."

Sora rolled his eyes. "Keep telling yourself that."

After another half hour of flying and random music playing in the background, we finally landed at Disney's Castle.

"Last stop, everybody get off!" I shouted as the door opened.

Once off the ship we were immediately greeted by Chip and Dale.

"Yumi! Sora! It's so good to see you again!" Dale said.

"Aweh, thanks you guys!" Sora said.

"Is the King here?" I asked.

"Yes! He's in the library," Chip answered.

"Thanks you guys."

Sora seemed to not know his way around the castle very well, which didn't really surprise me, so I lead the way. I had been here on countless occasions, so I pretty much had this castle memorized.

I knocked on the door before we entered. We were, in fact, in the King's castle after all. I wanted to be somewhat polite.

"Come in!" I heard the King's voice squeak.

I smiled as I walked in.

"Well hiya your majesty!" I said, as the King turned around with a surprised look.

It melted into a grin when he saw Sora and me.

"Sora, Yumi! It's so good to see you. To what do I owe this visit?"

"Sora here needs some travelling companions," I answered, and Sora rolled his eyes.

"The Organization is back your majesty. They came and kidnapped Riku and Kairi! So I came to see, if it's okay with you, if Goofy and Donald would come with me to go find my friends and beat the Organization again," Sora told him.

Mickey nodded his head, taking in everything he had just heard.

"Gosh Sora, I don't know what to tell you! If the Organization is back then I'm glad you are on top of it. But Donald and Goofy are off travelling by themselves. I told 'em to take a vacation. I don't know where they are...but you've got Yumi here to travel with. I think you two will handle it just fine!"

I laughed at that remark.

"You want me to travel with her? Uhm, your majesty, are you sure that's a good idea?" Sora asked.

Although I knew it was meant as an insult, I let it slide.

"Not to be rude, but I have to agree. You know he would only slow me down and you know I can take care of myself!"

"Oh yeah?! Who says I'd slow you down! I'm the Keyblade MASTER. If anything, you'd just be extra baggage."

_'Now I see why he and Riku were such great friends. Competitive edge.'_

"You mean, he doesn't know?" the King asked, looking at me.

"Know what?"

"No, and I'd prefer it to stay that way."

"Know whaaaaaat?!"

"Yumi, I think you should tell him. After all, you know about him."

"Know WHAT?!"

"He'll find out soon enough. Besides, he doesn't need to know everything. And everything he does need to know he'll find out anyway."

"KNOW WHAAAAT?!"

"I guess...but the only way he'll find things out is if you travel together. I won't be coming with you this time guys. I can't. So you're going to need some sort of help."

"GUYS, WHAT DON'T I KNOW?!"

Sora huffed.

"Well apparently you don't know how to be QUIET when the grown-ups are talking. Shush!" I reprimanded him, and he was silent.

Mickey looked at me, as if our conversation was never interrupted, and I knew I couldn't disobey him. He was too cute and powerful for his own good sometimes.

"I guess...I guess I have no choice. What do you say Sora? Will you help me save our friends? If we find Donald and Goofy on the way we can ask them to join us if you want, since they're probably the only way you'll be able to keep up with me."

I smirked.

Sora smirked back, with a glint in his eye.

"I think you're going to be the one who has an issue keeping up with me. So, I accept."

Mickey laughed, snapping us out of our stare war.

"Excellent! I'll make sure Chip and Dale update your Gummi before you leave. And I'll make sure Minnie and Daisy gather some supplies for you. Just remember, there's more to each of you than the other thinks. So be prepared to learn things about each other and trust each other with everything you've got."

I had a confused look on my face, and I assumed Sora did too, because he seems to always look like that.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"It's not important. Just remember that without light, there is no darkness, and without darkness there is no light. And only when the darkness and light combine will there be peace."

There was silence.

"...Alright. Starting off a trip with a metaphor is a great indication that this will be one kick ass time," I said sarcastically.

Mickey just shook his head and walked out the door.

_'That crazy mouse...gotta love him.'_

"What was that all about?" Sora asked.

I shrugged.

"Who knows. As long as it means we can start this trip so I can save my friends and get rid of you, I'm pretty content with it."

Sora shook his head.

"Feelings mutual."

Sora walked out of the library as I looked through a few books. One in particular caught my eye.

"The Battle of the Blades. Hmm, sounds interesting."

I took it off the shelf, looking it over. It was in a red bound casing, with silver letters. The pages looked pretty old, and it looked as if it had been read many times.

I decided I was going to ask Mickey if I could borrow it; that way I could have an excuse to ignore Sora on the trip. Although he seemed like a good kid, I really had no desire to make a new friend. I liked the ones I had and I didn't have a need for any more.

I walked out of the library, planning to just look for the Queen or someone to talk to, when I noticed Sora talking to the King at the end of the hall. I had a sneaky suspicion they were talking about me, so I decided to try and sneak up on them and hear what they were saying. It's a big hallway, I figured sounds would echo.

...I was totally right.

I was still a fair way away from the two boys when I heard Sora's voice.

"...and I just think it would be best if I looked for Donald and Goofy and then sent her home. Sir, to be quite honest I don't even think she has a weapon to fight. I don't want to have to play 'protector' the entire time."

_'Did you NOT pay attention at all yesterday?! I saved your butt you little brat...'_

The King laughed.

"Sora, there's clearly more to her than you know. Give her a chance. She'll surprise you."

"I doubt it..."

I was starting to get a little mad. I was planning to give him a chance...I don't see why he can't give me one!

"Listen...no matter what you say, you need to trust me in the fact that you need her. And she needs you."

I snorted at the fact that Mickey thought I needed Sora, which caused the boys to turn around.

I quickly started walking, making it look like I hadn't just been standing there.

"Your majesty, would you mind if I borrowed this book from you?" I asked once I had reached his side.

He smiled.

"Sure thing! I think it's a book that you'd both be interested in reading," he responded.

I thanked him and told the boys I was going the help Chip and Dale with the ship. I wanted to make sure I would be able to fix it. Besides, this ship was my baby, and I wasn't about to let it go through anything horrible without me.

After a few hours and minor upgrades the ship was in top shape and we were ready to go. Minnie had brought down some blankets and food, just some all around comfort items. I thanked her and put them on the ship before finishing up.

Sora came down a few minutes before I had finished working on the ship. I, of course, had no idea, because I was bent over working on the engine. I had been humming to myself, not really noticing, when he spoke, and scared the bejebus outta me.

"That's a pretty song, what is it?"

"Holy molly Sora! Don't ever do that again," I said as I turned around.

"Sorry. But...what was that?" he persisted.

I shrugged.

"Something I'm working on...not sure how I feel about it."

He gave me a slight smile.

"I like it...you should keep it up," he said.

He then turned to go say his goodbyes to Mickey and Minnie. And, for some strange reason, I felt all tingly. And I felt that no matter what, I had to keep writing that song. Just because he had told me to.

_'...weird'_


	5. Poor Wittle Girlie

I walked to the door of my ship, getting ready to leave. Sora was already saying his goodbyes to Mickey when I got there.

"I guess this is goodbye for now!" I said with a sad smile.

I knew this would be a completely different paced adventure without the King beside me.

"Aweh, we'll see each other soon," he said, giving me a hug.

"It just sucks that I had to downgrade my partner this time," I said with a small laugh.

Sora huffed but knew he couldn't argue. No one is better than the King.

**No one.**

"You guys will do great together. I have faith in you."

He smiled at us as we walked into the ship, and waved as we took off.

"Gosh I love that guy," I said once we couldn't see the castle anymore.

"How do you know him anyway?" Sora asked.

I knew he was going to ask, but I figured I had a while before he would say anything.

"It's a long story Sora. And I don't feel much like getting into it now."

"You know, you're going to have to tell me sooner or later. I am, after all, your travelling companion."

"Let's make it later please. Right now I need to figure out where I want to take us."

"Well, let's go find Leon and the gang!" Sora said enthusiastically.

"That's the issue; Traverse Town is on the map, but so is Radiant Garden. I'm not sure which place they would be in."

I wasn't lying either. I even double checked with Chip and Dale before I left to make sure I hadn't messed up the maps somehow. I knew if Traverse Town was back, there were definitely problems in Radiant Garden, but at the same time, I wasn't sure if Leon and co. would bail, or stick around and try and fix the problem. I knew it couldn't be good either way.

I decided it would be best to check Traverse Town first. Usually any issues there were pretty tame, so even if everyone wasn't there, it would be an easier world to set straight.

Sora and I were pretty silent most of the time. The ride wasn't long anyway, but I had figured he wanted to absorb everything that had happened these past few days. I had heard stories from Riku about how Sora had a big issue with change and I didn't want to cause any issues.

Once we had landed Sora and I walked into the First District.

"Seems pretty quiet," I said, and Sora nodded. "Where did you wanna look first?"

"How about we just go through each district? If the gang will be anywhere, it'll be the house in the Third District. This way we can scope out the area no matter what."

I agreed and we separated to cover more ground. The First District was rather small so it's not like the other was too far off.

"It's like a ghost town..." I muttered, noticing how dead it was.

And it was true. There were lights on everywhere but no one was home. I checked the item shop and the accessory shop, on both floors, but nothing. There was also a sense of darkness looming over the world.

I met up with Sora in front of the doors for the Second District.

"Anything?" I asked, and he shook his head.

We walked into the next district and I shuddered.

"This place gives me the heeby jeebies," I commented, rubbing my arms.

Sora smirked.

"Don't worry. I understand the wittle girlie is scawed, but I'm here to protect you," Sora said, puffing his chest out.

I rolled my eyes.

"Oh yeah, I feel so safe with you."

As Sora got ready to make a snappy comeback, I gasped and cut him off.

"Heartless!" I shouted, and Sora drew his keyblade.

Suddenly some weird white things were sprouting from the ground next to the heartless.

"And nobodies!" Sora grunted as he went to attack them.

_'So that's what nobodies look like...cool.'_

Sora quickly defeated all the enemies near us as I just stood there and watched. He turned to me once he was done.

"You weren't going to help?" he asked.

"Well, big bwave Sowa said he would pwotect me fwom the mean scawy heartlwess and nobodies!" I said, in a baby voice.

He rolled his eyes.

"Hey, don't say it if you don't mean it. You wanna do all the fighting? Be my guest."

As we continued to walk through the Second District, Sora fought all the heartless and nobodies. If he wanted to talk smack he better be able to back it up. Thems the breaks.

We made it to the Third District and we saw the house with lights on. This was a good sign.

Sora and I ran to the door and burst in, deciding that if we hadn't run into any heartless or nobodies on the way in, maybe this district was safe.

"Yuffie!" I screeched, seeing the ninja riffling through some drawers.

"Yumi?!" she said, in an equally high squeal.

She turned around and ran at me, tackling me to the ground.

"IT'S BEEN SO LONG! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!?" she asked, getting off me.

"I went back to the islands! I figured this knuckle head had everything under control," I said as I pointed at Sora.

She finally noticed him and tackled him after too.

"Hey Yuffie," Sora said between laughs.

I looked around the room and realized she was the only one there.

"Where's everyone else?" I asked, somewhat concerned.

"Oh, just Leon and I came. Everyone else is back at Radiant Garden."

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

"Have there been problems there?" Sora asked.

Yuffie nodded.

"Just recently heartless and nobodies had started appearing. We figured one of you two would be on it shortly, but we don't really know what's happening."

Just then, Leon walked in the door.

"Oh, hey there Squally," I casually said, nodding in his direction.

"Hey there squirt, and Sora," he commented back. "There was nothing at Merlin's old cottage. I think this town's clear."

Yuffie made a weird face.

"Well then why did it reappear?"

Everyone kind of looked at each other, none of us having an answer.

"It couldn't be that important. Let's head back to Radiant Garden and we'll all sit down and figure out what's going on," Leon said.

We all headed towards the door. Leon and Yuffie walked a bit ahead of me, which left Sora coming to my side to prod me with questions.

"How do you know Leon and Yuffie?"

"We've met before."

"How long ago did you meet?"

"A few years."

"How did you meet them?"

"The King introduced us."

"So then how do you know the King?"

I stopped walking and stomped my foot.

"Sora, this is neither the time nor the place to be asking me these questions. I told you, all in good time."

Yuffie and Leon were now through the short cut and Sora and I were standing in the middle of the square.

"C'mon you two, we don't have all day," Leon complained.

"Sorry, we're coming!" Sora said, giving me a look.

"Not my fault you can't keep your nose out of things," I said in a sing song voice.

As we tried to walk through the door, we got pushed back by an invisible barrier.

"Oh no..."

Suddenly we heard a noise that was coming from...the sky?

"It's not supposed to rain, is it?" I asked Sora.

"Nope."

"Well then...good luck."

I walked over to the wall nearest to me and leaned against it.

"Just let me know when you're ready to admit that this 'wittle girlie' is good enough to help out."

Sora got in battle stance as the grumbling of the sky happened again.

"You sure you're not gunna help him?" Yuffie asked.

I shook my head.

"You know the rules. You better back your shit up or face the consequences."

The grumbling happened again.

**Sora's POV**

I can't believe she wasn't going to help me because of one stupid comment.

_'This girl is going to drive me crazy...and not in the good way.'_

I didn't really know what I was supposed to do. All I could hear was a noise like thunder coming from the sky, but there was nothing around me to fight.

I looked up and suddenly a foot fell down.

"No way..."

Another foot, an arm, another arm, a torso, and a head.

It was the Guard Armour heartless...but this time it wasn't a heartless. It was white and gray rather than purple and black. And there was a nobody insignia where the heartless one was.

_'Too weird...'_

I began to fight it, becoming somewhat nostalgic about Donald and Goofy not being here to help. But hey, I could do this all by myself.

I started attacking the feet, since they kept trying to stomp me, but they were too fast. I would try to hit one, but then it would move so the other one could stomp down. I decided I would try a different tactic and go for the hands. Bad idea. They moved way too fast for me and scratched me up pretty bad. Why was this so gosh darn hard?!

I kept this up for a solid 15 minutes, but I knew I wouldn't last much longer. I had managed to get rid of one foot and one hand, but I couldn't land another hit after that. I knew what I had to do...

_'I'm totally going to regret this...'_

"Yumi!" I panted, looking in her direction.

She seemed to be braiding her hair, completely not paying any attention to the fight.

"Yes, Sora?" she asked.

"Help me!"

"Oh, I'm so sorry. This wittle girl is too scawed of that big thing!" she said, with fake disappointment.

I dodged the spinning arm that was coming to attack me.

"I'm sorry, you aren't a scared little girl. Now please, before I DIE from this thing, HELP!"

She smiled, standing and brushing herself off.

"I thought you'd never ask."

She started running towards the creature, rather quickly. It seemed to not notice her presence as it kept coming after me.

_'Is she going to attack it with her hands or what?'_

As soon as she got close enough she jumped high in the air. The creature turned around and looked at her as she...SUMMOND A KEYBLADE?!

"What the..."

She started coming down flipping her keyblade in a downward stabbing position. The nobody didn't stand a chance, her blade went straight through the center of its head, pinning it to its body.

As she gracefully fell to the ground the nobody sputtered and shook, trying to pull the weapon out of its head. She slowly walked towards me and reached her hand out to me.

"Need help up?" she said, with a sweet smile.

I didn't even know I was on the ground...

As she helped me up the nobody had begun to fall over, swaying every which way, until finally, it collapsed and disappeared. Yumi's keyblade reappeared in her hand.

"Solid fight. Good effort team," she stated as she headed for the door.

I just kind of stood there, until I realized everyone was leaving.

"H-hey wait up!" I called, running after them.

I caught up with them as they were all standing in the middle of the First District.

**Yumi's POV**

"So he doesn't know anything?" Yuffie asked as Sora appeared at my side.

"Since when do you have a keyblade?!" he asked, as I shook my head in Yuffie's direction.

"No, not yet. And yes, I do," I said, answering both of them.

"This is another secret, isn't it?" Sora asked.

"I promise Sora, I'll answer all your questions once we're with everyone else. Just not now okay?"

He nodded.

As we were walking towards the door to exit the world, my keyblade clinked against Sora's.

"Whoa, sorry!" Sora said.

I opened my mouth to say something then stopped myself, noticing both keyblades were lighting up.

"What in the world..."

My keyblade suddenly pointed towards the door to the Third District door and shot out a shimmering beam. When I looked at the door I saw a giant keyhole on it.

When I looked at Sora's keyblade it shot out a similar beam that shot straight into the keyhole, and there was a loud clicking sound.

Silence...

"I thought you already locked this world you dingbat!" I said, smacking Sora on the head.

"OW! I did!" he said, rubbing his head.

"Well then what was that?!"

"I don't really know..."

Leon broke in.

"Maybe we should ask Merlin when we get back. He said something about meeting with Yen Sid, so one of the two should know."

We all nodded and agreed, deciding it was a good idea to leave Traverse Town as soon as possible. There were already too many questions to be answered and too many answers none of us could come to.


	6. Honey, I'm Home!

**I'm so sorry this chapter is no good. It's a really long filler, just so I can set everything straight before the two actually travel. Try and enjoy, and I'll try an update fast so you can pretend this chapter wasn't so bad.**

The four of us got in our respective ships as we took off on the long voyage towards Radiant Garden. Sora kept pestering me to drive, and, call me crazy, I let him. I figured I had disappointed him enough with my lack of honesty about my past that I could give him something, no matter how small, for him to think I wasn't some shady character.

...Why do I care what that kid thinks about me?

_'Because he's Riku's best friend, and if he's happy, Riku will be happy.'_

Mmm yes, good talk inner voice.

_'It also doesn't hurt that his eyes shimmer when he's happy, making them even more stunning.'_

Ye-no...bad inner voice. Leading me to a path we don't wanna go down.

I'll admit, Sora was a looker. He was a few inches taller than me (although really, who isn't), and he had that crazy hair, and that spectacularly tanned body, and he was very fit, and...okay enough. He's good looking, the end.

I showed Sora how to use the intercom on the ship, informing him that if he needed me to use it.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"To the forbidden zone," I said, wiggling my fingers as I walked away.

I walked down the little hallway and entered my room, locking my door behind me. Now, there was nothing abnormal in my room. It had a bed, a desk, a mirror, and some photos. That wasn't why it was off limits.

As much as I come across as a bold and sarcastic person, there was a side to me that I didn't really like to show anyone: my emotional side. In my few years of existence, only three people had seen it: my mom, Riku, and the King. I was hoping to keep it that way.

Why do I bring this up? Well, a few years ago I had taken quite the shining to the piano. After becoming decently good, I began to write my own music, and that would be how I would let my emotions go, allowing me to bottle up my feelings without exploding one day. Of course, everyone has a few slip ups, which is how Riku and the King found out. In my room there was a keyboard I hid under my bed. Again, not the big of a deal. Along with that keyboard there was a notebook. That notebook had all my songs in it. It had all my _emotions_. That was the big deal.

I sat on my bed and contemplated taking out that book, but I decided against it. I had too much running through my mind to just focus on writing about one thing. Instead, I took out the book I borrowed from the King.

I opened the book to see a hand written message on the front page.

"_To the reader of this book:_

_There are many things you will learn as you make it through these pages. Some may be useful, some not. Each topic has been written by myself to help the two chosen ones in the future. Hopefully you will find this book and it will answer any questions you may have. Whether you choose to share this information or hide it is your choice. Just remember: the answers ultimately lie within you._

_-Y S_"

I flipped to the next page, a bit confused by the message, but choosing to ignore it.

"_Section One: Heartless And Nobodies._"

The section described what heartless and nobodies are and how they came to be, which by this point in time, if you don't know you need to do some more research. I skimmed through that section rather quickly.

"_Section Two: The Chosen Ones._

_Once the heartless make themselves known to the chosen ones, they will have to choose a path. One will choose the path of light; one will choose the path of darkness; and one the path of in between. The one who shall choose light will face many difficulties. They will face a quest beyond anything I could begin to describe, testing everything and anything they can be tested on. Ultimately, they will be able to suppress all worldly problems on their own. The one who chooses darkness will not stay there, for they will be pulled to the path of in between by the other two. The final chosen one will choose the path of in between. This person will also be able to suppress worldly problems. However, they are the most special of all. _

_The one who chooses the light will have a strong heart, full of light and love. The one who chooses the darkness will have a slightly tainted heart. However, they will fight the hardest to prove they want to be in the light. The final one will have the brightest heart of them all. Choosing the path of in between will allow them to not only see the light, but see the darkness as well. _

_Each of the chosen members will wield a blade. The one who chooses light will wield the 'Kingdom Key.' It was created by the bravest and strongest hearts to protect. The one who chooses darkness will possess the 'Soul Eater.' Created from the hearts who were indecisive and determined to choose a path, this blade will help the wielder on his quest to the light. The one who chooses the in between will wield a blade called 'Darkest Dawn.' This blade was created from the darkest hearts; all those who wished to see the light gone. Because their heart is so pure and light, the wielder will be able to channel the power of the blade to use it for good. If this blade were ever to fall into the wrong hands...I fear it would be the end for us all."_

Okay, whoa, stop...that was...I don't even know. I needed to think that over.

Basically, the person who chooses light stays with light, the person who chooses darkness moves to in between, and the person who chooses in between is light in the darkness...sounds about right.

"_Section Three: The Adventure._"

As I read this section, I began to break into a cold sweat. This was just...too weird. WAY too weird.

The entire section told three different stories: one for each chosen one. The weird part: it was Sora's story, Riku's story, and MY story.

_'Guess that makes sense. Sora does wield the Kingdom Key, and Riku does wield the Soul Eater.'_

I summoned my keyblade and smiled.

"Well, it's nice to finally know your name 'Darkest Dawn.'"

The irony behind the name was quite amusing. Don't get it? Well, have you ever heard the saying "It's always darkest before the dawn?" That's a complete lie. It's right before the sun comes up, why would it be pitch black? Since apparently you need the "heart filled with the most light" to wield this bad boy because it's filled with darkness, and the sun rising is the path towards light, so it's making a dark sunrise. Not that funny, but it seemed to suit me.

"Hey Yumi?" I heard Sora ask through the intercom.

"Yeeeesss?"

"Are you okay? You've been really quiet. Or were you sleeping? Did I wake you?! I'm so sorry!" he rambled.

"Whoa there cowboy. No, you didn't wake me. I was reading. And yes, I'm fine." I paused. "Are you okay?"

"M-me? Yeah, I'm fine! Just really quiet..." he mumbled.

I rolled my eyes. Dumb kid...

"Put some music on then. I wanna finish this book. It's short, so don't worry, I'll be up there soon."

He was silent after that, and I went back to reading.

"_Section Four: Paths Intertwine._"

**Sora's POV**

It was quiet...and I don't like quiet. And to be quite frank, I had way too much thinking time on my hands.

That's right...I do actually take time out to think.

Unfortunately, I kept thinking about Yumi and her secrets. First, she wouldn't tell me why she had a keyblade. Second, she wouldn't tell me how she knew the King and everyone else. Third, she wouldn't let me in her room. Although, I can somewhat understand that last one...but she's still keeping secrets!

I knew that I had some secrets too, but if she would just ask about them I would tell her. Or maybe she already knew? She didn't seem so shocked when I was talking about Donald and Goofy, and she seemed less than impressed when she saw my keyblade on the islands.

I turned on her music as I was driving, enjoying the sounds that came out of the speakers. About minutes later, a song ended, and there was a brief moment of silence. I heard deep breathing and a few shuffling noises, and then Yumi's voice.

"Okay...you can do this. No one's going to listen to this besides you. No pressure...here we go."

I realized that it was a recording, and a small smile came to my face. I imagined her setting everything up and panicking, which was really out of character for her.

"1...2...1, 2, 3, 4."

I heard a few notes being played on the piano, and I was quite impressed. I didn't know she played.

"Hey Sora, I'm all done reading!" Yumi walked in, and I heard something fall.

Next thing I knew she dove for her iPod, ripping it out of the dock it was in. She looked as if she'd seen a ghost.

"I swear, it just came on and I didn't hear anything...I promise!" I said, trying to calm her down.

**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Yumi's POV**

The cold sweat was back. No one was supposed to hear that...ever.

"Yumi I promise, I only heard piano...and you talking for like 15 seconds!" he said.

I nodded.

"Y-yeah, no biggie. It's just some stupid song right?" I said.

Wrong.

"Yumi..."

I smiled.

"It's all good Sora! No worries."

I sat down, and he looked a bit uneasy, but nodded.

"How close are we?"

Sora looked at the map and said, "Not much farther...so, are you going to tell me about-"

I cut him off.

"If you stop being so annoying about it, yes. All will be told."

_'Sort of...'_

I knew I would have to tell him my past. That didn't bother me anymore. I just didn't want to tell him what I had just read.

It wasn't anything he would have a clue about anyway, and I was no expert since I had just read this book ten minutes ago. But from what I had gathered in that last section, Sora and I were destined to be travelling together. We were supposed to lock all the worlds, and we had some sort of "bond." I wasn't quite sure what it was yet, but I needed to know before I would say anything about it. All I know is that we had some epic power and there would be some huge sacrifice.

_'Traveling with this kid is enough of a sacrifice for me.'_

I saw Radiant Garden up ahead. About freaking time!

We landed and headed straight towards the groups hang out.

"HONEY, I'M HOOOOME!" I shouted as I entered with the other three.

Aerith was the first to come over and greet us.

"Yumi, Sora, welcome back!"

I smiled as I looked around the room and saw the rest of the gang. We all said our hellos and made small talk for a few minutes. Then it was time for business.

"Merlin, I have some questions for you, if you don't mind," I said to the bearded old man.

"Why yes, yes dear. What did you need to know?"

I shifted uncomfortably, before pulling out the book I was reading on the ship.

"I borrowed this from the King, and it left me with a bit of an uneasy feeling."

Merlin took the book and scanned through the pages.

"Oh, this is Yen Sid's book! I was supposed to meet with him today but he must have known you would bring this to me."

That man just knows too much. I do respect him, he taught me magic and how to fight after all. But he was kinda creepy.

"So what did you want to know?"

"The book talks about three chosen ones...are they...are they..."

I couldn't get it out.

"Yes, my dear. We believe that they are you, Sora, and your dear friend Riku."

At this point, everyone started to listen in.

"Sora wields the light, Riku wields the twilight, or in between. And you my dear, you have the most special of them all. The darkness."

There were a few gasps.

"But, sir, why her? I don't understand..." Sora spoke up.

I was a little offended.

"Ah, my dear boy, that is because she has the mightiest weapon of all: the purest most beautifully bright heart."

Sora started laughing.

"Her?! Have a pure heart?! HAHAHA, you have to be KIDDING ME!"

I felt the urge to cry. I wasn't sure why, but the fact that he doubted me seemed to really strike a chord in me.

"Sora, she's done a lot for all of us. Maybe you should just wait and let Merlin explain," Aeirth said, trying to get him to come down.

"I'm sorry, but no one who has that many secrets can have a pure heart," he commented, calming down his laughter.

"Sora, stop," Leon said, seeing the tears fill my eyes.

"Well it's true! I don't see how someone like her could be anything more than average."

That was it.

"You know Sora," I said, starting off somewhat silent. "I always thought you were some really innocent kid, who didn't have a care in the world. But I've come to realize that you're just some impatient, immature, whiney boy who can't seem to understand that some things take time. I TOLD you once we came here all your questions would be answered and I TOLD you that everything would come to make sense in time. But you couldn't wait and had to go and make some STUPID accusations. Maybe you need to realize that you aren't all peaches and cream either, and it takes people time to get to know you before they tell you their life story. Get a grip, you aren't that great either."

I was yelling by the end of my mini speech, but I didn't care. I stormed out of the house, not caring what was out here waiting for me. I'd ask Merlin my questions later. Right now I needed to be alone.

**Sora's POV**

I immediately felt bad for what I had said. I was just so frustrated with her and her secrets that I couldn't take it anymore. But the look on her face when I said those things...I don't know if I can ever take that image out of my mind.

"Sora, you really are clueless aren't you?" Leon asked, shaking his head.

"What do you mean?" I asked, my eyes never leaving the door.

"She just puts up a strong front so no one can get in. And those who do, they get to see her strong heart. They're the only ones who deserve to."

I had never thought of it that way.

I decided I would go look for Yumi after I finished talking to Merlin about this book. That way I had time to plan my apology. He told me that the book Yumi gave him had information about the three chosen ones and our journeys. It also told of an epic adventure that Yumi and I were about to embark on, but it wasn't really that descriptive. It just said that our "bond" would save the worlds. When then told Merlin about what happened in Traverse Town, hoping he could explain it to us.

"It seems you truly locked the world," Merlin said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"But sir, I already locked the world!" I replied.

"My boy, you only temporarily locked it. Both the blade of light and darkness have the ability to lock a world, but only for so long. When your blades touched, the true keyhole appeared. The dark blade revealed the hole where the enemies were coming through, and the light blade closed it. It is important that you go to each world and lock them."

"And what about the Organization? Where did they come from?" Yuffie asked.

Merlin looked thoughtful for a moment.

"It seems someone has revived them. How and why I could not tell you. Your best bet is to travel and try and figure that out. Once you do, we can defeat them once and for all by locking Kingdom Hearts."

"Sora, you better lock this world then. Find Yumi and get going," Leon said.

I nodded, and headed towards the door. Once outside I realized I had no idea where she was.

_'Great...c'mon Yumi, where would you have gone to?'_

I felt a sudden urge to walk towards the castle. So, I followed it hoping it would lead me to Yumi.


	7. Those Crazy Kids

**Yumi's POV**

I knew I overreacted by leaving, but I really just needed to be alone for awhile.

I walked to my favourite place in the whole world (literally) and fought some heartless and nobodies along the way. For a comeback, these things sure suck.

I saw the rising falls and couldn't help but smile. It was just so...beautiful!

I felt a pull in my body, which was kind of weird. It was as if I was pulling something towards me, but there was nothing there. I danced around the falls, just enjoying the time I had here alone. These times were going to become slim and rare. After I tired myself out I sat at the top, thinking of that song Sora told me to "keep working on." I was humming out some chords and trying to think of lyrics.

"Every body's got something, they have to leave behind. One regret from yesterday just seems to grow in time..." I quietly sang along with the chords.

I heard a noise and stopped.

"That's a pretty tune," I heard someone say.

I turned around and saw someone in a hooded coat standing a few feet away from me. I slowly stood up and completely faced him.

"You should come sing it for Riku. I'm sure he'd love it."

"Oh, so you're one of the people who took him?" I asked, standing perfectly still.

He laughed.

"You learn fast. Now be a good girl and come with me. I'll take you to him."

It was my turn to laugh.

"You think I'm dumb enough to blindly follow you into a trap? As if. How about we cut the chit chat and you tell me where he is and I'll let you live."

The man reached his hand out, and an axe like weapon appeared. Of course he wouldn't just tell me. That'd be too easy.

"Ah, Lexaeous. A shame you won't be meeting Sora," I said, drawing my weapon.

"What makes you think that's true?" he said, taking his hood off to reveal his ginger locks.

"You'll be long dead before he shows up."

With that said, Lexaeous came at me, and I quickly summoned my blade, deflecting the attack. He was flung backwards and I stood my ground.

"Wh-what?" he questioned, seeming rather confused by my strength.

"Where do you think Riku learned to fight the way he did? From sparring Sora? Try again gingy. It was all me," I said, getting into battle stance.

And it was true. Riku got his strength from fighting Sora, but he got his quick reflexes from me. Admittedly I lost a lot, but I bet now that I did some extra training with Yen Sid, I'd be able to take Riku no problem.

Lexaeous came at me again, this time swinging his blade downward as if he was trying to slice me in half. I stepped out of the way and kicked his back so he fell on his stomach.

"Now I'll ask you again. Where are Riku and Kairi?"

He let out a laugh as he turned over, swiping his blade at me. I jumped, and he grabbed my leg, making me fall on the ground beside him. I kicked him, rolling away when he was disoriented. We both quickly stood up. We both ran at the other, blades clashing as we swung them this way and that. He got in a few good hits, but I got in better ones. Eventually, I hit his blade so hard it flew across what I had deemed the 'battle area,' and he came at me with his fists.

"You'd really try and hit a girl!" I mocked, moving away before he could touch me.

He was tired, I could tell. Poor boy was outta shape.

I realized he was running towards his sword and I ran after him, tackling him to the ground before he could make it there. I landed on him pretty hard, so I stood quickly, knowing he wouldn't be able to get up for awhile. I pointed my blade at his heart, emphasizing he needed to stay down.

I felt someone else's presence in the area, but I knew that Lexaeous would have been smart enough to put up a barrier. There was no way he would have left a chance for me to run away. Not like I would have.

"I'll ask you one last time. Where are Riku and Kairi?"

He let out a malicious chuckle.

"Why, they're with the rest of the Organization and our new leader," he said, with a weird smile on his face.

I remembered what the two dudes who took Riku and Kairi said...something about a Queen...

"Who is the new leader?"

He wouldn't answer, so I pressed my foot on his stomach.

"Don't make me ask again."

He coughed a bit and answered, "I thought you knew, chosen one. It's Maleficent."

I heard a gasp.

"Don't kid yourself, Maleficent is dead," I spat.

Lexaeous let out another deranged laugh.

"Anything is possible when you make a deal with the devil."

I was silent.

_'What the hell did that mean?'_

"They're using you, I hope you know, to get exactly what they want. Be prepared to make the most difficult choice of your life," he said, interrupting my thoughts.

Before I could even comment back, Lexaeous leaned up, causing my blade to go straight through his heart. Not what I was planning, since he was giving me information, but there wasn't much I could do. He slowly began to disappear, and laughed the entire time. That dude had one creepy laugh...

Once he had disappeared, I turned around to see who the mysterious person was.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" Sora screeched.

"A fight?" I questioned, not really sure how to respond. "How'd you find me anyway?"

He completely ignored my question, walking over to where I was standing.

"First, you aren't allowed to leave on your own like that EVER again if this is what's going to happen. Second, why wouldn't you screamed for help or something with that dude around?! Third, YOU BETTER EXPLAIN TO ME WHAT HE WAS TALKING ABOUT."

I started to get angry. This kid just doesn't get it does he?

Sora's keyblade suddenly appeared and our blade touched all on their own. I aimed my blade at the castle creating the keyhole, and Sora sealed the world.

"Listen, when you can calm down and talk to me like a NORMAL PERSON, you can come find me. Until then, I will once again say YOU DON'T KNOW ME KIDDO, STOP JUDGING ME BASED ON ASSUMPTIONS. Enjoy your walk alone," I fumed.

I walked back to Merlin's house, thinking nothing but how I wanted to put that brunette in his place. Who was he to tell me what I can and can't do? My father?! I think not.

When I opened the door I got some sad smiles, which all quickly faded away as soon as they got a good look at me.

"Oh my god...Yumi what happened?" Aerith asked, coming over to look me over.

I looked at my reflection in a nearby mirror, realizing I was covered in dirt and scrapes and I had a bloody lip. Nothing too serious.

Sora walked in the door, and I rolled my eyes.

I pointed at him over my shoulder saying, "Why don't you ask blade boy over there? He seems to think he knows everything about me, so he can give you the detailed report. I'm going to shower."

I could feel the sad look on his face but I really didn't care. I needed to clean myself up and let myself calm down. I walked upstairs, knowing Sora would explain everything that happened. I grabbed some of Yuffie's clothes, knowing she wouldn't mind that I did. I took a nice hot shower, changed, and sat in Yuffie's room. After a few minutes, I heard a knock on the door. I opened it and saw Merlin standing there.

"May I come in?" he asked, and I nodded, opening the door.

He sat on the bed and patted a spot down next to him, implying I should sit down. I complied and looked at my hands on my lap.

"Now my dear girl, I'm not going to lecture you on your sheer stupidity and success in today's battle. I know you had some questions you wanted answered."

I knew that was his way of saying he was proud of me. He filled me in on locking worlds and the whole "Chosen One" ordeal.

"Okay, last question. Lexaeous mentioned something about 'making a deal with the devil' and Maleficent coming back as their leader. Do you have any idea what he was talking about?"

The magician shook his head.

"I'm afraid not. That's something you and Sora are going to find out on your own."

I frowned. Stupid Sora.

"Give him a chance my dear. You may end up finding out something about yourself, something you would have never even imagined possible. Trust me...trust him," he said, giving me a hug.

He got up and walked towards the door. I laid on Yuffie's bed, just looking at the ceiling.

**Sora's POV**

Yuffie told me to go make sure Yumi hadn't died in the shower, and when I came up I heard her and Merlin talking. I had only caught the last few minutes of their conversation and had decided as soon as Merlin left I was going to go in there and apologize.

The door opened and I jumped back, making the magician who was exiting chuckle.

"I see you came to apologize," he said with a smile.

I blushed a little, which was a clear give away of me being nervous.

With the smile on his face the wizard wiggled his fingers and made a tub of soft serve strawberry frozen yogurt and two spoons appear in my hands. I looked at him confused.

"It's her favourite. This will make it easier for the both of you."

I nodded and took a deep breath. Here goes...

**Yumi's POV**

There was another knock on the door.

"Come in," I said, not wanting to get up.

I heard the door squeak open and closed. Then someone sat on the edge of the bed. I sat up to face said person and immediately regretted it.

"Oh...it's you," I said, sitting up. "To what do I owe the honours?"

Sora looked down at whatever he was holding, and in one swift motion he pushed his hands towards me and said, "I'mreallysorryIwassuchajerkand IreallyhopeyoucanforgivemeIe venbroughtapeaceoffering."

It took me a minute to process what he had said, and then I realized what he was holding. That crafty wizard knew my weakness. I took the tub, opened it, and took one spoon.

"Thanks, and I'm sorry too...do you wanna start over?" I asked in a timid voice.

Sora finally looked up, searching my face for any sarcasm. Once he found none he smiled and nodded.

_'Well ain't he cute.'_

"So, I'm ready for any questions you have for me," I said, digging into the sweet frozen dessert.

"Really?! Awesome!" His smile got even bigger, which made me giggle.

...did I just GIGGLE!?

_'Oh yeah you did.'_

Awkward...

So, as we ate the rest of the frozen yogurt, I told Sora everything I had told Riku the night he got abducted. When he asked me about my adventures on worlds he hadn't been to, I told him every detail I could think about. He listened the whole time; eyes wide and curiosity written all over his face. After I was done we talked about random things. All in all, he wasn't such a bad person. And I was hoping he was seeing that in me too. Eventually we both got tired, although we fought it as long as possible, and fell asleep. The last thing I remember was having a pillow fight with Sora, and catching my breath after laughing so hard.

**Yuffie's POV**

It had been awhile since we had sent Sora to go talk to Yumi, and I was beginning to worry.

"Leon, what if they got abducted?!" I said, voicing my thoughts.

Everyone else had gone to bed. I obviously couldn't because I knew they were in my room, and Leon always had to be the last one up. I never understood why.

"If you're so concerned, why don't we go check on them?" Leon responded, standing up.

I got up as well, careful to be quiet as we walked up the stairs. I opened the door to my room, and a smile instantly covered my face. Sora had fallen asleep leaning against the wall with his hand holding a pillow, while Yumi was draped across him, holding onto the same one.

Leon and I decided to be somewhat nice and move them, since they looked really uncomfortable. We moved Sora so he was lying down and Yumi so that she was beside him. When we went to put the covers on, Yumi's and Sora's faces started to move, and it looked like they were struggling with something. Leon and I froze, not sure of what they were going to do, when suddenly Yumi rolled over and leaned against Sora. Sora's arms wrapped around her protectively, and both their faces were settled. I quickly put the blankets on them and Leon and I left the room.

"I think I know what that 'special bond' Merlin was talking about was," I whispered.

Leon nodded in agreement, leading me towards his room.

"You can bunk with me while they 'bond' then," he said and I laughed.

Oh, those crazy kids...


	8. I Love Riddles

**Yumi's POV**

I woke up the next morning feeling oddly comfortable. I snuggled closer to a pillow I was holding, not really wanting to get up to face the day. I knew I had fallen asleep next to Sora because I could hear him breathing. I didn't find it that big of a deal. I always fell asleep next to Riku. But something about sleeping next to Sora just felt right.

I was snapped out of my thoughts by Sora making a weird grumbling noise.

"Ngh..." he mumbled.

I wonder what he was dreaming about.

"Kairi..."

Ah well, that explains it.

I tried to move to let him enjoy his dream when I there was a squeezing feeling around my waist.

_'What the...'_

I lifted up the covers to find Sora's arms around me. How did I not notice that before?! I tried to get out of his grip but nothing seemed to work. So I did the only thing I could think of. I tickled him. He let out a small chuckle and his arms loosened their grip on me. I seized the opportunity and slipped out of his grasp, leaving my pillow as a substitute for my body.

_'Too close...'_

I walked downstairs and realized I was the only one awake. I decided I was going to do something nice for everyone since they had all put up with me and my mood swings these last few days. So I grabbed some ingredients from the pantry and the fridge and began to make breakfast for the house. I as I was cooking I decided I would plan out the route Sora and I would take once we left.

_'Wonderland, Deep Jungle, Enchanted Forest, Land of the Dragons, Neverland, Halloween Town, Agrabah, Beast's Castle, New World, Hawaii, Atlantica, Olympus Coliseum...sounds like a good path.'_

I knew there were a few worlds on there that Sora hadn't been to, and there were a few on there that I had never been to. I figured the diversity would help us see if all worlds were affected or just ones that both of us had been to.

Yuffie and Leon were the first ones to wake up and I offered them coffee and orange juice as soon as they walked in.

"Someone had a good night," Yuffie commented.

"Pardon?"

"Well you must've had one good night to be in such a good mood this morning!" she teased.

I was confused. Did she see Sora and I this morning? Or was she...

"YOU! You set us up like that didn't you?! God, I freaked out this morning knowing his unfaithful hands were touching me."

Leon and Yuffie shared a grin and a nodded.

"Don't lie, you enjoyed it," Leon said, taking a sip of his coffee.

I rolled my eyes.

"As if. I just feel bad for Kairi. Her beloved can't control himself."

I finished making breakfast as everyone else walked in. We all said our good mornings, and ate breakfast together. For some reason, as soon as Sora came down I blushed. I knew he didn't know what had happened this morning, but I knew, and that was enough to make me feel uncomfortable. Yuffie and Leon would occasionally let out a small laugh or smile seeing my expression, but I would immediately give them a look and they knew to be quiet.

I told Sora the expected travel path, which he seemed extremely excited about, and we got ready to leave. There wasn't much left for us to do in Radiant Garden, so it didn't take very long before we were saying our goodbyes. There were hugs and sad smiles along with promises of visits happening in the near future.

The last one to speak was Merlin.

"Now, before you two head off I want to give you these," he said, handing us each some sort of gem.

"What is it?" I asked, looking at its stunning purple shade.

"It will help you blend into the worlds you are about to visit. On your last journey, you didn't need to worry about looking like an outsider because of all the crazy events and strange creatures everywhere. This time around you might be faced with a world that has no enemies, so you need to look like the locals."

I smiled. I looked over at Sora. He was poking his stone, which I noticed was a deep green colour.

"So it's like...a personal wardrobe in a little stone?!" I asked.

Merlin nodded. This was so FREAKING cool. The gem broke into two smaller ones and rose up to become earrings on each side of my head. Sora's rose up and attached to his necklace, right on the top of the center peak of the crown.

"Thanks Merlin," Sora said, and I nodded.

With a final wave we got on the ship and took off. I told Sora he could drive since I had never been to Wonderland, although I was really hesitant about letting him drive. I knew he was a good driver, I had seen it before. I just hate letting other people mess around with my stuff. And this ship was MINE.

"Are you excited to see Alice?" I asked Sora as I monitored his driving.

He shrugged.

"I don't know her all too well, but I guess it'll be nice. Wonderland is...well...different."

I made a face.

"Define different. Like we turn into lions and mermaids different or there's talking dishes and dragons different?"

He took a moment to think about it.

"Like...cards attacking you and a cat that has a disassembling body weird."

"Awesome!" I shouted, pumping my fist in the air.

Sora laughed which made me smile. I really liked his laugh.

"So...you miss Kairi a lot huh?" I asked once he was done laughing.

His face fell, and I instantly regretting bringing that up.

"Of course. And I miss Riku too. But I have a feeling they'll be ok. Like you said before, Riku can handle himself and take Kairi. Why do you ask?"

I shrugged and realized he couldn't see me because he was talking, so I spoke.

"This morning, when I woke up, you had a troubled look on your face and you were muttering her name. I assumed it was either because you missed here or you had some weird kinky dream and I didn't want to think about the latter."

He blushed, and the trip was silent from then on. It wasn't much farther anyway, so it didn't really bother me too much. When Wonderland came into view I ran to the window and pressed my face against it.

It was just so...PINK.

Sora landed the ship and I realized we were floating above the world.

"Sora...you know we're supposed to land in the world right? Not floating above it," I said, looking at how high up we were.

"Well I would if I could, but I can't. Just trust me, we'll be fine," he said, walking towards the door.

I wouldn't move.

"Sora, there is no way I'm jumping out of this ship."

He rolled his eyes and walked over to me. He put a hand on my shoulder and used the other to make me face him.

"Look at me," he said is a quiet tone.

I tried to fight it, but eventually I looked into his eyes. They were just so blue and beautiful.

"Nothing is going to happen to you ok? I promise."

_'Swoon worthy right there. Too bad I'm not a sucker.'_

I took a step back and shook my head.

"You shouldn't make promises you can't keep Sora. Let's get going."

He had a strange look on his face and I couldn't quite tell what it was, but I chose to ignore it. We walked to the door and Sora jumped. I took a deep breath, shut my eyes and followed.

"OH MY GOSH I'M GOING TO DIIIIIEEEEEE," I yelled as I began to fall.

After a few moments of falling I opened one eye very slowly. I noticed I was falling quite slowly so I opened my other eye. Sora and I were gracefully floating to the ground. I couldn't believe it. This was so COOL! I enjoyed the peaceful float down, feeling kind of silly for freaking out. I should have just trusted Sora. But I didn't know him well enough to do that. When we reached the ground I noticed we were in some sort of living room.

As I was looking around Sora shouted, "Yumi! You changed!"

I was a bit confused at first, but then I remembered the gem that Merlin had given to me before we had left. I looked down to see what I was wearing and was pleasantly surprised. I had a pair of pink and white converse on, with white knee high socks with two pink stripes at the top. I had on a pair of white shorts with a pink thank top over a white one. To top it all off I had a pink beenie hat on my head.

_'So awesome...' _

I looked over at Sora to see what he was wearing and instantly began to laugh. He was wearing a suit like outfit, but entirely in **pink.** He had on pink pleaded dress pants, some white sneakers, a white button up shirt with a pink vest and a pink tux jacket with tails overtop. To complete his look he had a pink tie and a pink and white top hat.

"Looking good Sora!" I commented between laughs.

"How am I supposed to fight in this?!" he groaned.

We walked towards a door that opened and revealed a door that opened to reveal another door. This went on for twenty doors. Personally, I thought it was a waste of wood. After we opened all the doors we walked into a kitchen like room. There was a fireplace, a table, and a small little door.

"Now what?" I asked, looking around.

Sora pointed at the table. I walked over and saw a bottle and some cookies on the table. The bottle said "Drink me" and the cookies said "Eat me." Sora walked over and took a drink from the bottle and seemingly disappeared.

_'Where did he go?!'_

Not wanting to be left behind I followed his actions. I took a sip from the bottle. It tasted like...lemonade? I felt kind of weird, and in the blink of an eye everything seemed a million times larger.

"What the..." I muttered, looking around.

I wandered to the edge of the table and saw Sora already on the ground.

"Bout time you found me, now hurry up and get down here!" he shouted.

I complied, not wanting to be by myself. After all, this was a new world to me and we were now pea sided. I had no idea what to expect.

I made it down to the floor and we walked over to a hole in the wall. Once we walked through we were in some sort of garden. We walked through a hedge and we were in some sort of courtroom.

"Hmm that's odd," Sora said, looking around. "I would have thought the Queen would have at least been here."

As soon as he finished his sentence a little white rabbit came hopping through babbling something about being late. He went through an opening into some extremely tall grass and Sora was quick to follow. Not wanting to be left out I did the same. We entered this forest area where, just as Sora said, there were flowers the size of trees. Not skipping a beat Sora and I continued running. Going through another hole, we walked into a tea party scene. The white rabbit, along with another brown rabbit, a mouse, and an odd looking fellow were all sitting at a table.

"Well hello there," the man said to Sora and myself.

"Oh, hello!" I said with a smile.

"Is it your un-birthday too?" the brown hare asked.

"Un...birthday?" I asked.

"Yes! It's any day that is not your actual birthday," the white rabbit answered.

"Oh! Well then I guess it is!"

"Ah well, a very merry un-birthday to you then," the mouse said.

"Where's the Queen?" Sora interjected.

The white rabbit shrugged.

"She went off her rocker. She started demanding everyone be beheaded and eventually we stopped listening to her. She got so upset she ran into the Lotus Forest one day and no one has seen her since."

We thanked the troop and left the way we came. Sora seemed to want to press on but I stopped him.

"Do you mind telling me what the big deal is with this Queen lady?"

He seemed hesitant to answer, but did.

"I'm not too sure. Last time I was here she seemed, I don't know, a little screwy. It's just unsettling to not know where she is or what happened to her. What if she's working with the Organization?"

I nodded. I still didn't quite understand what the threat was, but I figured it would be best to just agree. Before anything else could be said or done we heard someone crying. We followed the noise and found a blonde girl leaning against a mushroom. I immediately knew it was Alice, since she was one of the seven princesses. Beside her was a purple and pink striped cat, rubbing up against her.

"Alice...what's wrong?" Sora asked, going to her side.

"O-oh! Sora, when did you get here?" she asked between sobs.

"Just a little while ago. But Alice, why are you crying?"

I walked over to the cat and began to scratch his head as Alice told Sora a whole bunch of lies. Honestly, he's not the brightest bulb out there, but telling him you're crying "because you lost your lucky penny" is not really going to convince him. Eventually though, he got her to confess.

"It's nothing really Sora. It's...it's just," she started to cry again. "I don't have a date for the tea party!"

I rolled my eyes. Seriously? That was her problem? I mean, it's a tea party...maybe it was a British thing.

"Can't you just go on your own?" he asked her.

"No Sora, I can't! I refuse to go to my birthday tea party all alone!"

She started crying harder.

"Sora will be your date!" I blurted out.

Alice stopped crying and looked at me with a smile on your face. Sora on the other hand looked petrified.

"Really?!" Alice asked, batting her eyelashes.

Sora shook his head no but I nodded.

"Yes Alice. Sora would love to accompany you."

Alice shrieked with joy and jumped up.

"Oh how fabulous! Come along Sora," she said, grabbing his hand.

"But...but what about finding the Queen?" he asked as he was dragged away.

"I'll look for her! Don't worry!" I shouted.

He rounded a corner and that was the last I saw of him. I looked down at the colourful cat and smiled.

"Guess it's just me and you kitty cat. Let's go find us a Queen."

The cat suddenly disappeared and reappeared on a branch ahead of me.

"Cheshire's the name, and helping is my game. But I won't give anything away without a little riddle."

I was a little shocked at first, but a small smile crept onto my face.

"Alright Cheshire. I love riddles."


	9. Is That A Dude Or A Chick?

**I'm sososososososososososo sorry. I've been swamped with school and family junk, and I hate Wonderland. I've seriously written this 7 times, and I'm still not too happy with it. Try and enjoy and I'll try and be better about this.**

I had been walking around for awhile with Cheshire, cracking all his riddles as we searched for the Queen. I didn't mind spending time with the cat, but the walking was starting to get to me.

"Okay kitty cat, enough of this. Is this Queen chick really in the forest or not?" I asked.

"My dear mistress, it's really quite simple. The Queen waits for you in the place where the rabbit entices you to join in our parade. A place where our world meets yours and judgement is made," he responded.

I had to admit, this was a hard one. The riddle itself seemed almost too easy. My first reaction was to go to the courtroom because there were judgements made there. Then I thought that I should go to the world's entrance, since that's where our worlds met. Or maybe I was supposed to go to somewhere with a parade? I needed to figure this out. I couldn't let Sora down.

**Sora's POV**

This tea party is never going to end...I've been here for what seemed like a lifetime and all I wanted to do was drown myself in the now cold tea in front of me.

From the moment I left Yumi's side Alice had been complaining. It started out with how I never came to visit and how she was always so alone. Then we reached the tea party, and she complained about how no one wished her a happy birthday right away. After that she complained about how everyone was talking in riddles and how I was just plain not talking. I couldn't take this much longer. Why hasn't Yumi come to save me from this torture yet?!

"Sora? Sora why aren't you listening to me?" Alice asked, snapping me out of my thoughts. "I can't believe you! It's my birthday and you aren't even paying attention to me! I bet you're thinking of that Kairi girl. Why are you thinking about her on MY birthday?"

"Alice, I'm not thinking about Kairi," I told her, just wishing for her to be quiet.

"Oh. Well why not?"

"Because I'm wondering where Yumi is," I responded.

I instantly regretted it.

"Why are you thinking about her? Aren't you with Kairi? Why is Yumi more important than her? Or me! It's my birthday after all Sora and you're my date. You should be worried about making me happy!"

Oh god...this chick never shuts UP.

"Sora...answer me!"

"Uh...what do you want me to answer first?"

She tapped her finger against her glass.

"Well, what happened with you and Kairi? I thought you loved her...or do you still? It's hard to tell when you don't talk to me Sora."

As much as I didn't want to talk to Alice about this, I figured maybe if I talked I could get her to be quiet for a little bit.

"Kairi and I just drifted. She started to have feelings for someone else and I just lost interest. She's one of my best friends, don't get me wrong. But it just wasn't there anymore."

Alice nodded, feigning interest.

"Hmm, I see. Well, now that we've talked about all your issues for so long, maybe you can focus on me!"

I didn't really know what to ask her, so I took a random stab at something that might be interesting to hear.

"How did you come too Wonderland?"

She tapped her finger to her chin.

"Well...one day I was lying in a field of flowers. I was wishing for my imagination to come true and I saw the while rabbit hop by. Curiosity got the best of me and I followed the rabbit and came to Wonderland!"

The white rabbit looked over and nodded.

"I was told to find the girl who was just as crazy as the rest of us. To see if she'd want to join us. And here she is today!" he said.

"I am not crazy!" Alice said, acting quite offended.

I rolled my eyes.

"Keep telling yourself that..." I muttered under my breath, taking a sip of my tea.

**Yumi's POV**

I walked into the bizarre room after exhausting all my other ideas. I climbed up the table and ate a crumb from the cookies. In a flash I was my normal size again, sitting on the table.

"Why is this so hard?! Riku...I wish you could help me with this," I said to no one.

Riku and I used to tell each other riddles all the time. It was one of the dumb things we did together. That boy better be taking care of himself...

I got up off the table and walked towards the door of a million doors. I figured I would go back to the ship and take a hot shower. Maybe that would help me think better.

As I walked into the room Sora and I had entered the world in, I realized I had no idea how I was going to get to the ship. I started looking around the room for a ladder or something I could stack to climb up. While I was looking I saw a light near a grandfather clock on the wall. Curious about what it was I moved the clock to reveal a rabbit hole.

_'Wonder where this leads...'_

I thought about going to get Sora before venturing somewhere new, but I knew he probably just wanted to relax and not deal with any nonsense I would run into. Besides, I was a big kid. I can handle anything by myself! I crawled through the hole and was pretty much blinded the whole way through. Once I reached the end of the tunnel I stood up and brushed myself off.

"Where am I?" I asked out loud, noticing the field of flowers in front of me.

Something didn't feel right, but I wasn't quite sure of what it was. I kind of felt like I was in the Wizard of Oz, which freaked me out. You know the scene where Dorothy walks through the field of red flowers and passes out? It's kinda like that. If you don't know, you need to go watch that right now or you'll probably think I'm crazy.

As I walked through the field I started to feel like I was being watched, but I shook it off. I was in a flower field; if anyone was watching me it was probably some creepy old lady who was picking flowers for her table...right?

I heard s noise behind me and tensed up. Why couldn't I be right, just this once?

**Sora's POV**

The longer I sat here the more I began to worry about Yumi. What was she doing? Had she found the Queen? Why didn't she come get me to help her? Was she ok? Why didn't I help her? Oh god...what's happening with her?

The Mad Hatter looked at me with his goofy grin and asked, "My dear boy, what's wrong with you? You seemed to have lost your smile."

Everything seemed to happen so fast after that.

"He lost his smile!? Well be better start looking for it then," the March Hare responded, lifting up random tea cups.

"He's just misses his girlfriend," Alice said in a bitter tone.

"Maybe she has the boy's smile!" the March Hare suggested.

"Oh? I figured she had his heart," the Mad Hatter said.

"Without a heart, how can you smile?" the little mouse said, popping out from a tea pot.

The Mad Hatter nodded and pulled me up.

"Well you had better go find her then. Get back your lost things before you lose your mind as well."

The March Hare got up and well and pushed me towards the Lotus forest.

"We all know once you lose that you'll never be the same."

Alice was protesting in the background. She was complaining about how I was her date and she decided when I would leave. I could barely hear her over the two behind me yelling out alternating goodbyes.

I was in the middle of the Lotus forest before I even knew what was happening. After I had processed the whole scene in my head I blushed.

"She does not have my heart..." I whispered, as I started to walk.

I wasn't really sure where I was going, but my heart seemed to be pulling me in a certain direction.

I ended up in the bizarre room. I thought it was kind of weird I hadn't seen Yumi along the way but maybe that's where this strange feeling was leading me. That's what seemed to happen last time. Maybe that was our special bond. I'd have to talk to her about it later.

I climbed up to the table and ate a bit of the cookie and grew back to my regular height. I walked into the room Yumi and I had first been in and looked around. I noticed the clock had moved and was a bit confused, but then I noticed a bright light in the wall I had never seen before.

_'Hmmm...wonder where that leads...'_

**Yumi's POV**

"You know, you Organization members really need to learn you can't sneak up on me. You all really suck at it," I said, turning around.

There was a figure in a black trench coat was standing at the other end of the field.

"Oh really? Well I'll be sure to let the other members know once we head back."

_'Dude or chick...duuuude or chiiiiickkk...'_

"Too bad I won't be heading there with you. Not sure if you've heard but I've got some worlds to save. If you wanna just let me know where you're keeping my friends though I'd appreciate it. It would save me some time."

Cue mysterious chuckle.

"Well, if you won't join me willingly, I'll just take you by force," the dude...chick?...dude chick said, summoning a scythe.

"Go ahead and try!" I snapped back, drawing my keyblade.

_'Sora...where are you?!'_

There was a tug and my heart, but I ignored it. It was kind of familiar to the tug I felt in Hollow Bastion, but I wasn't going to read too far into it right now. I was way too concerned about living.

Before I could even register what was happening, rose petals began to fall from the sky. I tried to stay focussed on what was happening, but I suddenly felt tired.

_'This is exactly like Wizard of Oz...'_

"What...what's happening?" I questioned, trying to keep focussed on the stranger's weapon.

"What's wrong? Are you sleepy?"

My eyes began closing. What was happening?! I hadn't even been here for three minutes and I was already going to be captured...not cool.

I suddenly felt something smash against my back and I flew forward into the flowers. As soon as I had hit the ground I was picked up and hit in the stomach, flying backward and falling hard on my back.

"I can't believe you beat the big oaf. I knew he wasn't too smart, but to get defeated by a little girl like you?"

"Don't...don't underestimate me..." I stuttered, getting up.

Once again, evil chuckle.

"AERO!" a familiar voice shouted.

Once I managed to stand up I noticed all the flower petals were gone and Sora at my side.

"Ah, so I see you brought your little boyfriend," dude chick said.

"Not my boyfriend," I shouted back.

The stranger ran at Sora and I. Sora stood protectively in front of me as dude chick swung their weapon at us. Sora successfully deflected the attack. I jumped up from behind Sora and landed a hard hit on our enemy. Dude chick swung back and me and landed a nice hit cutting up my shoulder really bad. Sora came up behind dude chick hit him...her?... hard in the back, causing their weapon to fall to the ground. Dude chick made it rain thorns on Sora and I. They didn't hurt too bad, but Sora cast Aero again before they could do any real damage. Dude chick wasn't too tough, but he was persistent. The fight from that point on consisted of thorns raining from the sky and attempts from the stranger to try and get his weapon. I was mostly just healing Sora, making sure he was ok. I was eventually running out of magic, and Sora was beginning to look tired, so I decided to intervene. When dude chick ran to get his weapon again, I stuck my foot out so he tripped.

"TAKE THAT!" I screamed, suddenly feeling exhausted.

Sora walked over and picked up dude chick.

"Where are Riku and Kairi!?" he asked in an angry tone.

Dude chick was silent. This caused Sora to growl, which made me make a weird face.

"Hey, Sora," I said, walking over. "Down boy."

Sora relaxed from his tense position, but didn't let go of dude chick.

"You can keep looking, but you'll never find them until you're captured," dude chick said.

"And why's that?" I asked.

Dude chick smiled.

"You need an invitation to get there. And frankly, unless you surrender, you won't get one."

More friggen riddles...I was so sick of this!

Before anything else could be said dude chick pushed off Sora and flew backwards and landed on his scythe.

After dude chick faded away there was an awkward moment of silence.

"This is getting weird," I said, walking up beside Sora.

"Yeah, I'm getting a little tired of riddles," he responded.

"And this suicide pact once you get caught? Seriously...a soldier's death is only honourable if you die protecting your country...not some stupid Organization to take over the world."

Sora nodded.

"...so...I hate to break the mood...but was that a dude or a chick?!" I asked, causing Sora to shake his head at me.

"Marluxia? He's a dude" he said.

"No way, that's a chicks name. And he had pink hair and used ROSES as a weapon...something isn't right here."

"Yeah well - YUMI, your shoulder!"

Sora looked like he had seen a ghost.

"What are you talking about?"

I looked at my shoulder, remembering what had happened. At that moment, I felt like I hit a brick wall. That shit hurt...

"Oh yeah...that. No worries!" I said in a nonchalant tone.

"That's a huge deal! You're still bleeding! Are you okay?!"

"Really Sora, I'm fine. Let's go seal the key hole and get outta here ok?"

He hesitantly nodded and I lead us back through the rabbit hole. Crawling on my hands and knees was extremely painful for me, but I knew Sora couldn't see me and make a big deal about it because of the blinding light. So I bit my lip and tried not to make any noise. Once through the hole Sora got up to move the grandfather clock back into its original place when both of our keyblades appeared. We allowed them to touch, creating the keyhole for the world and Sora sealed it.

"So should we go say goodbye to everyone?" I asked once the light show was done.

"NO!...I mean, nah. We'll see them again sometime soon."

I raised an eyebrow at the boy.

"...what happened at the tea party?"

Sora just shook his head.

"Lookie here blade boy, we said no secrets. So spill the beans," I said in an old timey accent.

"Just...Alice..." he said, shivering. "She was just so...annoying and needy. Just like a...a..."

"A teenage fan girl. Got it. Now let's get back to the ship," I finished for him.

He came over and grabbed my hand. I was a bit confused, but Sora snapped his fingers and we were suddenly floating up.

_'How come he can do that and I can't?'_

It took us a few minutes, but we were back on the ship. I started to walk towards the cockpit when I felt a tug on my hand.

"Sora...do you think you can let go of my hand please?" I asked timidly.

"O-oh! Sorry," he whispered, letting go.

I decided I wasn't going to show how much it hurt me to let his hand go, so I spoke in as much of a normal tone and I could create.

"Listen, you looked pretty tired out there. Why don't you rest up and I'll steer the ship onto the next world."

He silently agreed and went to his room. I walked over to my chair and sat down, getting the ship ready to lift off. I had a little bit of trouble because of my shoulder, but I wouldn't let it get to me. All I had to do was get the ship in the air so I could fix myself. I would be fine once I was in the air.

It was a shaky lift off, and I was scared that Sora knew I was having issues, so as soon as I could I put the ship on auto pilot to make it seem like I was steering and everything was peachy keen. I pretended to drive for a few minutes just in case Sora walked in on me, but it seemed like my plan was working. I turned over to my iPod and put some music on, just as another safety precaution, and Everything is Alright by Motion City Soundtrack came on, and I couldn't help but smile.

_'Oh irony...'_

I turned the music up so that it drowned out all other noise and decided it was time to fix my shoulder. I walked to the bathroom as quietly as I could and I grabbed some bandages and some disinfectant. Anything I would need to tend to my wound. I walked the same way back to the cockpit and sat down on the floor. This was going to hurt...

**Sora's POV**

I walked to my room with my head bent down. I felt a little bit embarrassed about the whole hand holding thing, but I felt even more embarrassed that I kind of liked it. I don't know what it was about Yumi, but whenever she was around me I just felt like everything was going to be ok. I wasn't quite sure if I was feeling this way about her because I was missing Kairi or if maybe it was something more. My feelings for Kairi had faded away quite some time ago, so I couldn't tell. Maybe it was just nice to have a girl's company? ...nah.

Before I could over analyze anything I heard music coming from the front of the ship. I let out a light laugh, knowing full well that Yumi was probably sitting up there dancing in her seat... Wait, how is she driving so well when she's still injured?

I walked towards the cockpit as quiet as possible. I didn't wanna freak her out and make her crash the ship, so I figured this was the best solution. As I got closer and closer I heard random yelps that went along with the music. Was she really that tone deaf?

I made it to the door and peaked around the corner. Yumi was sitting in the middle of the floor trying to wrap bandages around herself.

"Give me AAA reason, to end THIIS discussion..." she tried to sing.

It pained me to see her like that, and I knew I needed to help her.

"Yumi..." I spoke, causing her to jump a little bit and drop the bandage wrap she was holding.

"S-Sora! I thought you were going to take a nap..." she trailed off, trying to hide her shoulder.

"Well, I was going to until you're awful singing kept me up," I teased.

She blushed.

"I promise you, I'm not that bad of a singer," she mumbled.

I walked over and kneeled in front of her. Her head was bent down so I couldn't see her face, so I looked at her shoulder and gasped.

"Why does this look so much worse than before?!" I asked, in a shocked tone.

"I may have tried to use disinfectant on it. And that may or may not have made me jump up in pain and smash it on the table."

I sighed. This girl just doesn't get it.

"Let me heal it," I said, getting ready to cast the spell.

"No! Sora you can't waste your magic on something small like this," she said.

I rolled my eyes at her.

"I'll have enough magic by the time we get to the next world. Don't worry about it."

She looked up at me with big puppy dog eyes.

"Sora, please. Just let me wrap it up."

_'Damn her beautiful eyes...wait...what?!'_

"...Fine. At least let me help," I said, caving in.

She nodded, and I picked up where she had left off. It was kind of hard to wrap her, since I had to wrap the bandages around her chest a few times, which was really awkward. When I was done I made her drink a potion to help speed up the healing process.

"I didn't need to take that," she said after downing the drink as fast as she could.

I knew how gross they tasted, so I wasn't going to make fun of her.

"Well you wouldn't let me heal you, so at least this will help," I responded, standing up.

She sat down at the wheel and I made a face at her.

"How are you expecting to drive?" I questioned, taking the seat beside her.

"Autopilot will help me!" she said with a smile.

I smiled back. I wasn't sure why, but I had a good feeling inside me. My heart felt light and happy. I could get used to this; I would fight for this.


	10. But I Wanna VINE SWING!

**Yumi's POV**

I was really excited to go back to Deep Jungle. Last time I was there, Jane had decided to stay with Tarzan in the jungle. It may not sound all too exciting, but after FINALLY getting those two to find common ground, I was glad to see them happy together.

"Are you excited to see Jane and Tarzan again?" I asked Sora.

"Always! It's been so long since I've seen them. I wonder what's changed since then..."

"That was on your first trip right?"

I turned to Sora and he nodded with a sad smile on his face.

"It was the world where I thought I saw Kairi for the first time after our world disappeared."

He bent his head down.

Don't get me wrong, as much as I wasn't Kairi's biggest fan, I didn't understand why he was so upset when he knew she was in good hands. I get that the first few times around he didn't have that reassurance. But she was with Riku, and he was, well, Riku. He could handle anything someone threw at him...right?

"Hey...it'll be ok. You gotta keep your head up," I said in a quiet tone, nudging his shoulder.

"I know...I just...I wish I knew where they were. Every time this happens, all I can think about is what they're doing."

"You can't do that Sora. You're going to stress yourself out. You just gotta trust that they'll be ok. They're both big kids, and they can take care of themselves. Just like we can take care of ourselves. As long as we're ok, they'll be okay too."

He still didn't look convinced. Trying to make this kid happy is so much harder than everyone said.

"Listen blade boy, I'm not too good at this reassuring thing. So you're just going to have to take my word for it! Besides, you're on the better end of things."

He looked up at me with a semi-angry face.

"How am I on the good end of things?" he asked in a confused tone.

I smirked.

'_Manipulation...my type of style here.'_

"Well you know Riku can take care of himself. I mean, he survived the dark side. All you did was wander in the non-threatening light. And you know Riku can protect people, since that's what he's basically done for me and you his whole life, so Kairi is safe too. We all know I can carry my weight, since I've done this all on my own before too. So that just leaves all of us to be worried about innocent little Sora, but I guess I can always just protect you..." I trailed off.

He seemed to be deep in thought. The seeds have been planted...he was now in my trap.

"But...but I saved the worlds!" he said in a sad tone.

I let out a small smile. He was so cute...NO...he was so...innocent? Yes...innocent.

"With help. But don't worry, that's why I'm here!" I told him.

He pouted.

"But I can do it all by myself too! This was just convenient!" he said.

"No Sora, you needed the help. Remember, you came to me. Besides, I know you'll need my help to keep faith in the safety of Riku and Kairi too."

"No I don't! I can keep faith in them. They're my best friends! I know they'll be ok!"

Cue a moment of silence...

"...HEY, YOU TRICKED ME."

"What are you talking about Sora? I've done no such thing."

He huffed and slumped in his chair.

"Oh, poor Sora. But you know what I said was true."

He crossed his arms and turned away.

"Baby..." I trailed off.

**Riku's POV**

_'Where am I?'_

I felt like I had been asleep forever. The last thing I remembered was talking to Yumi about her past.

_'Then I brought her to see Sora and Kairi...and then...OH MY GOSH KAIRI.'_

I opened my eyes and looked around. I didn't process anything that was happening. I just needed to see that I wasn't the only one okay. I quickly laid my eyes on Kairi and took a deep breath.

I walked over to her still body and had a slight moment of panic, but then I realized she was asleep.

"Kairi...Kairi wake up," I said softly as I bent down and nudged her.

It took a few nudges, but eventually she began to stir.

"R-Riku?" she mumbled as I helped her sit up. "Where are we?"

I finally looked around and realized I had no idea where we were. We were in a white walled room with white bars keeping us locked in.

"I'm not too sure," I answered.

This was weird. I had never seen this place before and I knew Kairi hadn't either by the look on her face. Something just wasn't sitting well.

"I'm telling you, that chick was off her rocker," I heard a voice say.

It sounded like a man's voice, but I couldn't make out whose it was.

"Yeah, but did Malurxia really have to steal her heart?" another male voice said.

"Probably not, but he thought her dark heart would help him harness the darkness. Guess he was wrong," voice one said.

"Guess so! What happens now anyway? With her heart I mean," voice two asked.

"As long as her will is strong enough her heart will find her and she'll be back to normal in no time. Whatever normal is for a Queen of Hearts! Ahahaha."

The two voices continued laughing as they, I assumed, rounded a corner.

"Riku, what were they talking about?" Kairi asked me.

"I don't really know...but I know it can't be good," I answered.

"Well, let's get out of here and look for Sora and Yumi. Chances are if we got caught, so did they," Kairi said.

For some reason I knew she was wrong, but I didn't have the heart to tell her. I knew though, that we wouldn't be able to break out of this prison cell without them.

**Yumi's POV**

"Hey Sora?" I asked, trying to break the undying silence.

He just looked at me with a pouty face.

"Well fine, if you don't want to have an intelligent conversation ever again that's fine. I can baby talk to you from now on."

"NOOOOOOOOO. I CAN BE A BIG KID!" Sora whined as he pulled on my arm.

"Oh yeah? You really think so?" I teased.

He nodded his head.

"Yeah! Yeah I can!"

I laughed.

"Alright. I was just going to say, we never found that Queen chick in Wonderland. Do you think she's okay?"

Sora let go of my arm and sat back in his chair.

"You know, I'm not really sure. I kind of felt like everything was okay when we left though. Like, everything was back the way it should have been. So maybe that meant she was okay," he said.

I paused for a minute and then shook my head.

"Never distrust that. That feeling is your gut reassuring your heart that what it's thinking is right, and that your head should just agree and not question it. If you say you felt like she was okay, she was. End of story," I told him.

I know it sounded dumb and I figured he wouldn't take what I said to heart, but I meant it. I was always taught that no matter what, if you just knew with every fibre of your being, something was right or wrong, it was. The heart has a weird way of telling you things, and I never questioned it.

I saw deep jungle come into view and I smiled.

"WHOOOOP VINE SWINGING HERE I COME!" I shouted, landing the ship by the tree house.

"Is that all you can think about? Adventures and being reckless when you're INJURED?! No vine swinging for you," Sora said.

I pouted.

"But I wanna VINE SWING," I complained as I opened the door.

Sora shook his head and walked off.

"No and that's final."

I huffed.

"How can you go from tantrum baby to professional adult in like 3 minutes. That's unlawful. I demand we get a third party's opinion."

"Well in that case, I think you should listen to the boy," a British man's voice said from behind me.

I spun around to face none other than Professor Porter. For those of you who don't know who that is, he's Jane's lovely, funny, and witty as hell father. I'm pretty sure in some strange way we're related, and if not, I'm pretty sure he's my idol.

"Well, I think this boy is just all messed up in his mind because he doubts my awesome abilities to be a kick ass fighter," I joked, making a cool karate pose.

Sora rolled his eyes.

"What brings you to the tree house today Big Daddy?" I asked.

"Well I could ask you the same thing!" he teased.

"Well I just missed yeah so gosh darn much that I had to come visit you, yeah crazy old man."

Sora stared at us from afar, and I'm pretty sure he was looking at us like we were on some sort of drug.

"Well I was actually looking for my son-in-law. Blasted young man doesn't know the meaning of 'stay here for a awhile.'"

"He left? I was sure he would have wanted to stay with Jane for every second of every day," I said in a dreamy tone.

"Well, he's been acting like this since you left. Poor Jane's ready to break down and I've had just about enough of this."

"Let's go find him then! Obviously the boy needs to be put in his place."

The professor nodded and we began to walk out the door.

"Come along Sora! We can't leave you here unprotect. Lord knows Sabor had family and they'll seek revenge," the professor teased.

Sora slightly jumped and ran until he was right next to me. I let out a small chuckle and we followed the Professor on an all too familiar path to a very familiar camp site. On the way I took a chance to see what Sora and I were wearing. We were decked out in camo gear, which looked pretty awesome. I had on a pair of converse, cargo capris, a cargo type vest with a black tank top underneath, and a military style cap all decked out in camo. My hair was up in two buns near my neck behind my ears and I had on a black watch and a whistle around my neck. Sora was dressed pretty similar, the only notable difference was that he didn't have on a vest, he was wearing full pants, not capris, and he was wearing combat boots. Upon noticing this, I laughed.

"What?" Sora asked, giving me a funny look.

I laughed harder at this.

"Whaaaaaat?" he asked again.

I shook my head as an indication that I wasn't going to answer. Once I had calmed myself down from my laughter, I realized we were at the tent.

"You guys are still living out of a tent...really..." I asked.

Sora nudged me.

"Yumi, be polite," he scolded.

"Yes, we're still unfortunately in this dump. For the life of me I don't know why we don't build an actual house," the Professor said.

Sora looked a little shocked that he was so blunt, but I was kind of used to it. Like I said, he's just like me.

Professor Porter walked into the tent first, followed by Sora and then myself. Jane was sitting in a corner by herself and didn't even notice us walking in.

"Dear, please get up and greet our guest properly rather than mope in your corner," Professor Porter teased.

Jane looked up and allowed a weak smile to pass her features.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. Hello again Sora, Yumi."

"Hi Jane, how are you and things?" Sora asked.

I rolled my eyes. Sora and Jane made awkward small talk before I cut in.

"Yes, this has been great and all, but we were kind of wondering where Tarzan was."

Sora shot me a look and I just shrugged. I wasn't going to sugar coat anything; that's insulting.

"Well, I can show you where I last saw him, but I'm not sure if he'll be there," she said, standing up.

I followed her out the door and walked by her side. I shot a look at the boys when they tried to walk beside us, so they were a few steps behind us.

"Jane, you know you can tell people when something is bothering you," I said to her.

"I know, and there's nothing wrong, really," she said.

I gave her a look and after a few moments she sighed.

"I'm just...tired of waiting around. I made a choice to stay by his side and he won't stay by mine. I don't mind Tarzan having to go off every now and again but what's going to happen when we have a family? And does that mean he doesn't want a family? Not that he'll really have a choice in a few months..."

She mumbled the last part but I still heard it.

"Jane...are you telling me you're going to have a baby?"

Her face flushed and she nodded her head. I squealed and immediately clamped a hand over my mouth. I couldn't believe it. I was so happy, and then suddenly extremely sad.

"He...he doesn't know does he?" I asked.

She shook her head.

"When has he been around for me to tell him? He was barely around long enough to make the baby," she attempted to joke.

"First off, ew, mental image. Second off, I'm ready to kick this dude's butt. Where does he get off thinking this is okay? Jane, don't worry, I'll help you fix this."

Before anything else could be said, we heard a loud roar off in the distance.

"That would be one of Sabor's relatives," Professor Porter said. "Better keep our guard up."

We walked for a few more minutes and then Jane came to a stop.

"This is where I last saw him. He said something about 'completing some unfinished business' and then he was gone. I'm sorry I couldn't be more help to you," she said.

"Don't even worry about it Jane. This is a great place to start, so let's get going," I said back.

We looked around for clues as to where Tarzan went to, but we couldn't find any. Of course, it's not like there was much he could have left behind to hint anything, but it was all we could do to try and find any clues.

"Sora," I said after a few moments, "lift me up so I can climb this tree. I'm going to see if Tarzan left any clues in some of these branches."

He shook his head as he walked over to me.

"No way. You are not climbing some silly tree with a messed up shoulder," he scolded.

"But Sora, I'm the only one who can go up there. You aren't lifting Jane or the professor up there and we know I can't lift your fat butt no matter how strong I am," I grumbled.

"Excuse me, but I am all muscle, minus some water weight. Don't be jealous cause I have a body of god-like proportions," he retorted.

I was taken aback by his response, and I'm assuming my silence and stare at him was the cause of the blush that stained Sora's face. I mean, it's not like I could really argue with the kid, but I never thought he was so full of himself. This made me blush. Eventually the professor laughed, which broke the awkward silence.

"Well, it seems your attitude is rubbing off on the lad, Yumi," he said.

I forced a laugh out and nodded.

"Yeah, I guess so. Now, Sora, please just lift me so I can climb that tree."

"...okay," he mumbled. "But if I think you're in danger you better get down from that tree."

"And how exactly do you expect me to do that?" I asked.

"Either climb down or jump," he said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

I snorted and rolled my eyes.

"Yes, I'll just jump down from neck breaking heights. Weren't you just complaining about me being safe?"

Sora walked over and put a hand on my shoulder. He smiled at me with his eyes closed and said, "Don't worry. If you jump, I promise I'll catch you."

All I could do was nod as I felt goose bumps cover my body. Sora knelt and cupped his hands and I accepted his boost and climbed a few branches into the tree. I didn't know what just came over me, but I wasn't sure if it was something I could control if it ever happened again.

**Sora's POV**

I boosted Yumi up into the tree and kept an eye on her as she waded through some branches. I could feel myself making faces as she made some dangerous jumps and when a branch would hit her.

"I see you have a lot of concern for her Sora," Jane said, breaking me from my intense stare.

"Huh? Oh...well yeah, I have to," I said back.

She smiled.

"And why's that?"

"Well...she's seeing my best friend, and since he's not here I have to look out for her in his place."

_'That's true, isn't it? I mean, I never really asked her, but I was so sure she was dating Riku. Or at least they like each other. Yumi was all he ever really talked about and her face always lit up when he would take us to go talk to her.'_

Jane laughed which broke me out of my train of thought.

"Just because he's not here doesn't mean she's going to go crazy the moment he leaves. And if she does, maybe she's not meant to be with him. Besides, you're keeping a little too close of an eye on her for me to believe that this is only for your friend."

"Wh-what are you talking about?"

"Oh Sora, if you don't know then it's not my place to tell you."

"You're ogling her like a monkey does bananas," the professor piped in.

"I am not! I just can't bear to see her hurt again," I attempted to rebuddle.

"Then you better watch yourself," Jane spoke. "I think she'd be damaged beyond compare if you got hurt."

I didn't really know what she meant by that, but I didn't have time to read too far into it.


	11. PETA Will Be All Over My Ass

**Some things you should know:**

**1) Updates will be randomly when I have time**

**2) I've changed the order of the worlds that everyone will go to, so please go back and re-read that chapter to know or buckle up for a surprise**

**3) Major Organization OOC, but he was my designated member and I wrote in someone else instead and when I realized I messed up I didn't want to change the dialogue because it just flowed nicely. Sue me.**

**4) Be prepared for mushy moments with no explanation...just because I feel like it.**

**5) I'm currently digging Inuyasha, Digimon (Tai), and as always Sora stories. Please feel free to send me any good ones you stumble upon!**

**Yumi's POV**

There was diddly bubkiss up in these trees, and I was getting tired of climbing. My shoulder hurt and I knew I wasn't going to find anything up in this mess.

"Sora," I shouted down to him, "I can't seem to find a-OH MY GOD I'M COMING DOWN!"

Before I could finish my sentence to Sora I saw a leopard run by in the trees and I knew I wasn't able to fight it. How do you hit a cat and not feel bad?! So, before I had to deal with that, I began to climb down. Of course, I slipped, and plummeted to my doom. That is, until Sora caught me.

"Thanks for the catch," I said as he put me on my feet.

"I told you I'd be here!" he responded with a smile.

I smiled back, and then remembered what I had just seen.

"Right, we have to get Jane and the professor outta here. As a matter of fact, we should ALL leave. Right now; let's go," I said, tugging on his arm.

"Whoa, what's the rush?"

There was a loud roar and I felt a shiver run down my spine.

"That would be why. So LET'S LEAVE PLEASE!"

"You don't have to tell us twice!" the professor piped in, dragging Jane behind him.

We didn't even make it two feet when a large leopard dropped down in front of us. Everyone stopped dead and stood as still as possible, not really sure of what we were going to do next.

"Listen," I whispered to Sora, "you need to get Jane and the professor out of here; now. I'll hold off the kitty cat as long as I can. Once they're safe, if you feel the need, you can come back if I'm not done here."

Sora whipped his head around to look at me, but I was still eying the cat. I knew I couldn't risk having Jane here because of her baby, and the professor wouldn't be a nuisance, but he had to go with Jane so it didn't look suspicious.

"You think I'm going to leave you here with the cat of doom?" Sora spat.

I rolled my eyes.

"I can take the cat Sora, it'll be fine. Besides, if there's worse danger out there, I'm not sure I'm in well enough condition to face it. You really want me to try and protect Jane and her father when I can barely climb a tree?"

I was guilt tripping him and we were both aware I was doing it. I just needed him to leave and let me handle this. I knew last time he faced Sabor he had help from Tarzan, Donald and Goofy, so I wasn't sure he was strong enough to do this on his own. Besides, I knew I wasn't going to hurt the cat; my plan was to just tire him out enough that I could run away. I had a strategy and I knew I could do this.

A few seconds passed before we heard a low growl from the leopard.

"Professor," I said lowly.

He turned his head slightly to look at me.

"Take Sora and Jane and make a break for it. I'll take care of the kitty."

He nodded and took a slow step to the left. Jane followed suit but I felt Sora still. I squeezed his arm, realizing I was still holding it, to reassure him.

"You asked me to trust you, now I'm asking the favour back," I said to him.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw him nod.

"Please, be safe until I come back," he said.

I smiled and let his arm go as I felt him move. I heard the leopard growl at the moving group which caused my focus to zone in specifically on the animal.

"Hey cat!" I shouted, drawing my keyblade as said animal's attention fell on me. "I think it's time to house train you."

**Sora's POV**

"Hurry guys, we need to get you somewhere safe before anything happens to Yumi," I shouted.

The three of us were running as fast as we could back to the campsite. I was scared for Yumi; I knew how difficult it was to beat Sabor and I had help. She was trying to fight his twin brother or whatever all by herself.

_'Why does she think she can do all these things alone? Doesn't she know she can ask me for help? I don't wanna be rude and tell her to smarten up, but she really needs to.'_

"Sora, slow down. We can barely keep up with you," Jane yelled.

I didn't even remember when I had passed the two and when I looked back I had realized I was extremely far ahead. I stopped and waited as the two caught up.

"How close are we to the tent?" I asked.

Once the two had caught their breath, the professor responded, "It's still a fair bit away."

"Well then it looks like you'll never make it," an ominous voice said.

"Seriously, this is happening right now? Okay, fine. Professor, Jane, is there anywhere close by that you can hide and be safe?" I asked.

"Well, we can always go to the waterfall..." Jane trailed off.

"Okay, great. You need to go, now. And please be safe. You're in more danger here than you were with the leopard. Trust me."

I was rushing them, but I knew this was a voice of an Organization member and I wasn't about to sit around and drag on a battle when I knew I needed to go back to find Yumi. Jane nodded and her and the professor ran in a different direction.

"Be safe son," the professor said.

When they were out of sight I drew my blade. I looked around the area I was in and didn't see anything. Ugh, why didn't these people ever come out into plain site?

"Show yourself!" I yelled to the sky.

There was an ominous laugh.

"I think I like the view up here much better. Besides, shouldn't you be more worried about the girl? It seems she's having a bit of trouble. How unfortunate; she seems to be afraid to hurt the poor animal. Her heart is just too bright to have a shred of darkness in it to do such an awful thing."

Damnit...I wasn't sure if he was telling the truth or not.

_'Yumi...please be okay...'_

"Well, it seems like you're having a little trouble deciding which is more important: the girl, or stopping me. Let me make the choice for you. Come and get me Sora, I'm waiting!"

Before I could even process where the voice was coming from, a red light shot down and barely missed my feet. There was a cynical laugh and another beam came down and I had to dodge to avoid it.

"Fine, you want to fight? I'll fight," I shouted.

I jumped up into a close tree and began looking around for the person who was trying to kill me. I wanted to get this over and done with to make sure Yumi was alright. I wasn't sure what I was going to do if she got hurt. I reached a patch of branches that leveled out and stepped on it. I looked around and spotted a black robe.

"Show yourself!"

There was some rustling of a few leaves, and then a man in a cloak walked out. I couldn't see his face, but he was obviously an Organization member.

"Who are you?" I demanded.

"What? You don't remember me? Let me give you a hint."

To guns appeared in his hands.

"Xigbar...what are you doing here?"

"Following orders of course."

"And those would be...?"

"Well, it would be too easy just to come out and tell you."

I rolled my eyes.

"Whatever. Hurry up and die then so I can go get Yumi," I said.

"Really, you want me to die? What happened to the Sora I used to know who just wanted to go home to his island and be with his bestest friends! I'm pretty sure that girl wasn't one of them. Tell me, does she mean more to you than the others?"

I knew he was trying to get into my head. Unfortunately it was working. Why did I suddenly think saving Yumi was more important than getting information on where my two best friends were? If she thought that this was something she could handle on her own, why couldn't I just agree with her and do my own thing while she did hers? Wasn't that what she wanted?

"There it is: doubt. Go ahead Sora, keep the questions flowing. That's why we're back, y'know. Everyone's dark thoughts about us gave our Queen the power to being us back to life. The more you doubt, the stronger I become!"

Xigbar shot a beam that I barely missed when he was done speaking. My mind was running a mile a minute and I could barely focus on what he had just said.

"Listen, I have no doubt in my mind that Riku and Kairi are okay. They're just fine! I can't say the same for you though," I retorted.

I ran at him and slashed my blade towards his torso, but he moved before I even got close. Xigbar hit me on the shoulder with the back of his gun and I fell down. He aimed his gun at my head and I rolled out of the way before he shot it. Getting up, I swung my blade at his feet but Xigbar jumped over it, as if he was expecting it. At that moment, I heard the highest pitch and loudest scream in all my years of living.

"You're just no match for me anymore! Is it because I got stronger? Or is your mind off with that girl?" he asked.

"That's enough! I don't have time to waste here with you," I hissed.

I turned around and ran back to where Yumi was. She needed me, and I would be there.

**Yumi's POV**

"SERIOUSLY, THAT DID NOT JUST HAPPEN!" I yelled.

Let me set the stage for you from where we last left off: I was alone, in a forest, with a giant killer cat. Both of us out to defeat the other with my outcome less violent and bloody than my opponent's. We stood across from each other, circling the battle area. Got a pretty good picture? Swell. Now here's where things get real. The leopard ran at me, and I at it. I dove out of the way before he landed a claw on me. The cat charged again and I just rolled away. This went on for a solid five or six minutes, and then I slipped up. I didn't get up fast enough and the leopard jumped at me, claws bared. I drew my blade and held one hand on the handle and the other on blade, holding it across my chest to hold back the animal. When it pounced on me, I used my legs to kick it up over me and it slammed into the tree behind me. I got up and turned to face the cat, realizing I knocked it unconscious.

"Oh man...oohhhh man. PETA is going to be all over my ass if they hear about this. Yumi you're so stupid!" I said to myself.

I began pacing, lost in my thoughts. Of course, while this was happening, who should wake up but the cat. All I can really tell you about what happened next was that I caught a brief glimpse of the leopard jumping at me when some blob from the jungle came and took out the cat. Next thing I know I hear the cat roar, a snap, and Tarzan walked out of the bush. I screamed, close to tears, assuming the inevitable. Welcome to the moment you walked in on.

"TARZAN," I shrieked," YOU KILLED THE FRIGGEN LEOPARD!? I KNOW HE WAS BAD AND ALL, BUT REALLY. YOU HAD TO DO THAT WHEN YOU KNOW I'M AGAINST ANIMAL CRUELTY. WHY, WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!"

I knew I was crying and throwing a hissy fit. But the dude just killed a leopard for no reason. And, judging from the look on Tarzan's face, he thought I was the rude one here.

"I no kill cat; I throw him," Tarzan said.

"YOU THREW HIM?! INTO ANOTHER TREE?! THIS CAT WILL NEVER WALK AGAIN."

Tarzan walked over to me and pulled my arm, signaling that he wanted me to follow him in the direction he "threw" the cat.

"You want me to see this?! No, no, no, no."

Although eventually, Tarzan overpowered me and dragged me behind him. We only walked a few feet, but we came to a large, dug out hole in the ground. Tarzan leaned over the edge a little and looked down, so I did the same. The whole was deep, and there were a few broken fragments of branches and a few leaves lining the sides. When my eyes reached the bottom I felt my face lighten up. There, pacing around, was the leopard.

"So you didn't kill the animal! You must've made this a trap and thrown him on the covering of branches and leaves, and that was the snap I heard. Oh, Jane sure has shown you how to love things!" I gushed.

"YUMI! YUMI WHERE ARE YOU!?" I heard a familiar voice yelling.

"Sora?!" I hollered. "Sora I'm over here! Hold on, I'll go back to where I was...if that makes any sense at all!"

I went back to the clearing we were in before and saw Sora frantically looking around. Eventually, his whipped his head in my direction and his face lit up.

"Yumi! You're alright!" he gushed, running over and pulling me into a hug.

I let out an awkward laugh as I felt heat rush to my face. Sora's face was buried into my hair and he was holding me extremely close.

"Sora, of course I am. What has gotten into you?" I asked.

He pulled away a little bit and blushed.

"Well, I ran into an Organization member and-"

"That's great!" I cut him off. "You don't even have a scratch on you, so he must not have been that strong. Did they say anything that could help us find Riku and Kairi? Wait...where are Jane and the professor? Did they get kidnapped too?!"

At this point, Tarzan's interest peaked and he pulled Sora and I apart.

"Where Jane and dad?"

"They're fine, I think they said something about going to the waterfall or something. But listen, Yumi, about that Organization member..."

"Right! How'd that whole thing go down? Did he kill himself like the others or did you just chop his head off?"

"Well ain't no one gunna be touching my head!" an ominous voice said.

I shot my head up in the direction of the voice and saw a man in a black coat.

"Wh...what?"

"Listen, Yumi, I tried to tell you..."

My head snapped in his direction.

"I left you one simple stupid task, and you blew it. SERIOUSLY?!"

Sora's face fell a little bit.

"But Yumi I was just-"

"Cram it blade boy. Thanks to you I've got three generations of Porters to save."

Sora reached out for me but I stepped away.

"You came to save the girl and she doesn't want anything to do with you. How unfortunate," the man said.

"Listen buddy, Sora doesn't need to run to my side every time danger strikes. I'm no damsel in distress, so why don't you just come on down here and I can remind him."

"Well I think it's time I visited Jane for a little while. I just dropped into to make sure that our favourite duo was back together."

The man disappeared into the trees and I grumbled.

"Tarzan, you need to take us to the water fall as fast as you can," I spoke to him.

He nodded and ran off towards the direction of the waterfall. I took a few steps before I heard Sora speak.

"Yumi, I'm sorry. I tried to tell you, but I was just...I don't know..."

I clenched my fist.

"I don't need to be held responsible for someone else getting hurt. You need to realize that I can handle things by myself. So I'm going to save my friends and pick up your slack. Try and keep up."

With that I was off after Tarzan.


	12. Let's Blow This Popsicle Stand

I heard Sora running behind me, but he had been silent since my little outburst. I seriously needed to watch my tongue around this kid, because I knew he took it to heart. And although there was some truth behind what I was saying, I didn't mean for it to be so harsh. I was just freaking for the baby and, call it motherly instinct, but I couldn't back down from my post. Until this Organization member was gone, I had to be strong.

I could see the waterfall in the distance, and I was pretty sure we had beaten the bad guys there. We stopped when we were at the bottom of a cliff.

"Alright listen," I said to the boys. "I think we beat the bad guy here. So, I propose we set up a plan. I'll stay down here and keep guard. If the bad guy comes then I'll signal Sora and we'll take care of whatever the problem is. If it's something small, I've got it. I want the two of you to take care of Jane and the professor. I don't want to hear any protests, just go."

Tarzan nodded and was already climbing the cliff. Sora just gave me a sad look and nodded. I felt my heart break a little as he did this, but I shook my head and turned away. I couldn't feel bad. Not yet.

Once the two were out of sight I looked around for any sign of, well, anything. It was green as far as the eye could see. God, this place would be beautiful if there were no snakes, killer cats, elephants who wanted to step on you, or poachers. I think this explains why I'm more of a resort person. I decided that although the green sight was pretty, I should probably get above the trees to see if anything was coming from above. I would still have a view of the ground just in case as well. So, I climbed a nearby tree. And, although I'll never admit it, it hurt like a bitch. My shoulder was in fire, and I just wanted to chop it off.

_'Shoulda just let Sora heal me. God, I'm such a butthead. I shouldn't have been so mean to the kid. But he treats me even more like a baby than Riku did. Like okay, I get it, I'm a girl. But I can handle myself! Have I not proven that to the kid? Ugh...stupid guilt trip. I'll apologize to him later. Right now, I need to get to the top of this damn tree so I can relax my shoulder.'_

By the time I finished my thoughts I was at the top of the tree. I pulled myself up and sat on the branches, admiring the view. I turned around to look at the waterfall.

"Wow..." I whispered.

It was beautiful. The water was a shimmering bright blue and it was cascading from endless heights. It reminded me of home; being on the small island and sitting on the roof of the hut next to the waterfall. When we were done on our mission, I was going to camp out there. It was already decided. A rustling noise broke me out of my thoughts and I looked around. There was nothing happening in the tree tops, so I looked down and saw something moving. I watched it for a bit longer and I noticed it was an Organization member. I was getting ready for a sneak attack, when the person seemed to have noticed me and jumped up into the trees, emerging from a tree close to me. I drew my blade.

"Who are you and what do you want?" I asked.

"Well, it seems you've forgotten me already."

The figure removed their hood and I saw spiky locks of red burst out.

"AXEL!" I said, recalling my blade and running over to him. "I should have known it was you by your way too tall and skinny figure."

I hugged him and he returned the gesture.

"Thanks kiddo. I really appreciate it."

I broke the contact and smiled up at his form.

"So, what can I do for yeah?" I asked.

Axel looked down at me and scratched his head.

"Well, it's sort of about Roxas..."

"Uhm, okay? What about him?"

Axel sighed.

"I don't even know how I'm asking, or why really, but have you seen him? Or any sign of him in Sora?"

I was confused.

"No, I can't say I have. What's this about?"

"Never mind. I'll save my questions for a different time. Right now you need to get to Sora. He needs you."

I scrunched up my face to show how lost I was.

"Axel," I said slowly. "If Sora was in trouble and he needed me, I would feel it. That's how it works, right?"

"He doesn't want you to be mad that he messed up, so he wants to try and handle this all on his own. He's up there right now fighting so that you don't have to worry and you think he can do this. So go help him."

My face fell and I grumbled," Well why didn't you start the conversation with this!"

Axel laughed.

"Well if I didn't ask you my questions first, I know I wouldn't have gotten any answers."

"Hey," I said, smiling at him. "You can always come to me and ask me anything. I'm here for you, and I'll keep an eye out for our boy, okay? Right now I have to go save his counter part's ass."

He nodded and made a black portal appear.

"I'll try and get some info for you Yumi. Until then, take care of yourself. Sora and Xigbar are fighting over there, near the opening of the cave behind the waterfall. Good luck."

With that, Axel was walking into his portal and was out of sight. I looked in the direction Axel and pointed at. It was a ways lower from the high tree top I was in and quite a ways away.

_'How am I gunna get down there fast enough to help Sora out before he gets hurt?'_

I looked at my surroundings and noticed a large tree branch that twisted and turned as it sloped downward. I smiled.

"I may not get to vine swing, but I can definitely tree surf!"

For those of you who don't know what tree surfing is, it's a super awesome way to slide down mossy tree trunks to go somewhere faster. You do exactly what the name suggests: surf on a tree. I ran as fast as I could and jumped on the mossy trunk, beginning my decent to the cave.

"WHOOOOOOP, THIS IS AWESOME!" I yelled as I ducked under a tree branch.

This may not have been the safest route, but it sure was an adventurous one. And I was perfectly okay with that. Although my sliding fiasco didn't last long, I still enjoyed every second of it. The trunk lost all its moss, so I came to a semi abrupt stop at near the bottom. I steadied myself though, and looked around for the cave.

_'There! I see it. And from the looks of it, Xigbar was too stupid to put a barrier up. That seems a little off. Maybe Axel had something to do with it?'_

"That's right Sora! Let that negative thought overwhelm you," I heard an evil voice say.

_'He must be trying to convince Sora that Kairi isn't okay! And we just had this talk before we came to this world, so there is no way he's taking this well.'_

I looked at the distance between the cliff that had the cave and where I was standing. There was no way I could jump it.

"Think, think, think..." I mumbled to myself.

I looked around and noticed a long vine. I walked over and pulled on it, checking to make sure it was sturdy.

"What am I doing? Sora said no vine swinging..." I muttered.

_'But he's not here...and besides, if you don't swing over there he may get hurt. Would you want to be responsible for Sora getting hurt?'_

Well...no, but I'll end up being hurt and he'll be mad at me...

"AHHH!" I heard Sora cry out in pain.

"Oh screw it, I'M COMING SORA, HOLD ON!" I shouted.

I grabbed the vine and took a few steps back, and ran at the edge of the tree branch I was on. I jumped off and held onto the vine for dear life and I soared across the gap between the tree and the cliff.

_'OH DEAR MOTHER OF PEARL THIS HUUUUUUUUURTS.'_

I couldn't see straight, I couldn't think of anything besides pain as I flew into the cave. I saw a black figure in front of me and I stuck my foot out, kicking him in the back of the head and sending him down on the ground face first. I braced myself as I let go of the vine and tumbled onto the ground. I rolled a few times and eventually came to a stop in front of what I assumed was a person.

"I...I made it," I whispered into the ground.

"Yumi!" I heard Sora's voice.

The person in front of me knelt down and shook me a little.

"Hey are you alright?!"

I knew at that moment it was Sora, so I forced my eyes open.

"Y-yeah. Never better..." I lied.

He stood up and grabbed my right hand, pulling me up. Of course, this was the shoulder that was injured, so it hurt to high heavens. My left hand shot up and squeezed his upper arm.

"Ah...oh my," I whimpered

"Yumi, what's wrong?" he asked.

"I...I heard you scream and I was nervous! Are you okay?" I stumbled out.

"I'm fine, really," he said, blushing.

I loosened my grip on his arm.

"Then why did you scream?"

"Uh...we'll talk about it later. Right now, we have a bad guy to beat!"

I had almost completely forgotten about our foe in the floor. I let go of Sora and turned to face the Organization member. He was still on the ground, so I went over and sat on his back. He tried to sit up, but I just shifted myself on his back.

"Ouf...what...where am I?" Xigbar asked.

"Start talking you stupid hillbilly," I threatened.

He groaned and started flailing.

"Get off of me!" he shouted.

Sora came over and bopped him on the head with his keyblade.

"You better stop that before I knock you unconscious," Sora spoke.

"Sorry, but I ain't going out like this."

Xigbar summoned one of his guns.

"Sora look out!" I screeched.

Sora jumped back, but Xigbar didn't even aim his gun at Sora. Instead, he aimed it at his own head.

"NO!" I shouted.

I tried to reach and grab his arm before he could do anything irrational, but I was too slow. He shot himself. Honestly, as gruesome and it sounds, it wasn't what you were thinking. Yeah, you'd think blood and brains would fly everywhere, but it didn't happen. The noise was there, but that was it. We were all kind of frozen, until Xigbar started to disappear.

"Better thank Sora for your nap later," he said, just before he disappeared.

I fell on my butt when his body was gone, and I was a little dumbfounded.

"Uhm...what the heck was that?" I asked.

Sora just shrugged and just stood there. I kinda of half expected him to help me up, but then it dawned on me that he was probably still upset from earlier. So I stood up and brushed myself off. When I looked at Sora again he had a sad smile on his face as he motioned for me to follow him.

"C'mon, I wanna show you something."

I nodded as he headed off into the cave. He didn't say a word to me as I faithfully and quietly walked behind him. We made it to a wall behind the waterfall that had many different ledges leading upward. Sora jumped to one of the ledges and pulled himself up and turned around to make sure I was still going to follow. I hesitated, but I knew I couldn't stay there forever. No matter how much it was going to hurt, I had to do it. I needed to apologize to Sora and prove that I was there for him. So I took a deep breath and mustered up some strength. I got a little run and jumped to the ledge, grabbing the side and pulling myself up. All I wanted to do was break down and cry, but for Sora's sake I knew I couldn't, so we carried on all the way up the waterfall. This happened all the way up; Sora would go first and I would follow. I was beginning to have a problem keeping my grunts of pain to myself but I could see the end of our upward trip coming. Sora climbed up onto the final edge and disappeared from my sight. I looked at the climb and slumped down on the current ledge I was on. I needed to rest; I had over exerted myself all day and I felt like I was going to pass out.

"Yumi, are you alright?" Sora asked after a few moments.

"O-of course. Just tying my shoe..."

I climbed up and saw Sora facing away from me. I took a minute to hunch over and let my face show how much I hurt. Sora started walking again and I inwardly groaned. We weren't there yet?!

"Don't worry, it's just around the corner," he responded, almost as if he read my mind.

We were about to round a corner when our keyblades appeared.

"Oh, what's this?" I questioned.

Sora backtracked to where I was standing and our keyblades touched. Mine shot out a light that parted the waterfall in a keyhole and Sora's shot out a beam that made a locking sound.

"Was that what you wanted to show me?" I asked.

Sora shook his head and began down his intended path, rounding a corner. I, of course, followed, but I found it very difficult to try and keep up with him. Maybe it was the overwhelming pain that was cascading from my shoulder, maybe I just needed to eat or something, or maybe it was just me realizing how weak I actually was, but I was ready to collapse any minute. But, silly me, I pressed on and tried to keep pace with him.

_'Oh dear, my vision is starting to go. Sora...hurry up and let's get where we're going.'_

After a few more minutes we stopped in a dark cavern.

"Sora...I don't understand. I can't see anything," I spoke softly.

Had my vision really gone? Oh crap...

"Heh, I know. Give it a few seconds."

We stood in silence; the only sound a few stray water droplets landing in puddles. After a little while though, something lit up on the wall. This was followed by another light, and then another. Eventually the whole wall was lit up with a beautiful baby blue colour, and I realized that the colour was coming from butterflies, that were lighting up!

"No way..." I mumbled.

"Beautiful right? I found this place when I first came here. This is where I locked the first keyhole."

I smiled. It was nice to see Sora talking like his old self.

"I remember wanting so bad to show this place to Kairi. I knew she'd love it. But after getting to know you I thought you'd like it more."

"Thanks...Sora."

Suddenly a wave of exhaustion hit me like nothing else. I guess I had been running on adrenaline this whole time and I had run out or something, because I couldn't even support myself. I knew Sora was saying something, but I couldn't hear him. My vision was getting worse by the second as I felt myself fall down on my knees. Sora turned around and it felt like he took a life time to come over to me. The last thing I remember is trying to tell Sora I was sorry, but I couldn't even tell if I got the words out. All I knew was that I was ready for sleep.

**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Sora's POV**

"Yumi...I'm sorry, for not living up to the expectation you had for me. I guess...I guess I'm not as strong as you think I am. I just got worried about you today and I needed to make sure you were okay, but you ended up saving me both times. I'm...lucky to be traveling with you."

I couldn't look at her when I was talking, I was too nervous. I knew I messed up today and this was my way of showing her. When she didn't respond though, it made me nervous. Was she really that upset with me?

"Yumi?" I asked as I turned around.

She was on her knees and her eyes looked far away.

"YUMI!"

I ran over to her side and noticed she was wobbling.

"Sora..." she murmured, "I'm sorry...I'm so sorry..."

I caught her, just before she hit the ground.

"Yumi, Yumi wake up. You have nothing to be sorry for okay? So wake up! God, why didn't you tell me you were tired or something? You're so stupid! Please let me be there for you, I'll take care of you when you aren't well; I'll make sure you're always safe; I will never let you get to this point again as long as you wake up!"

I was panicking. I didn't know what happened or why, but I knew I needed to help her. I brushed some hair out of her face and trailed my hand along her shoulder. However, I had to retract my hand almost immediately. For some reason, it hurt when I touched her shoulder! But...why? I pulled her vest off of her and noticed the scar on her shoulder had gotten bigger and it trailed over to her heart. How did it get so bad? I'd ask her about it later, for now I just acted on impulse. I placed my hand on her shoulder and closed my eyes.

"Cure," I whispered.

A light shone from my hand and lit up her scar. It started shining where I had placed my hand and it worked its way down to...

_'I should not be looking there!'_

Once the light faded I looked at Yumi again.

"Hey crazy, it's time to wake up," I said softly.

She didn't move.

"Yumi...you gotta get up now so we can go save Riku and Kairi okay? You aren't allowed to sit here and be lazy."

She still didn't move. I didn't know what else to do.

"Who's going to protect me while you're asleep? You gotta get up so I can be safe."

I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head. I wasn't sure how, but I felt like this was my fault.

"Just wait ten more minutes and I'll save your ass from all the danger okay?" she muttered.

My eyes shot open and I looked down at her. There she was, rubbing her eyes, snuggling close to me, trying to go back to bed. I tried to speak but no words came out. I think that was for the best though; I needed to let her rest. I would just sit here and protect her for once while she got the rest she needed.

**Yumi's POV**

I snuggled into my pillow as I enjoyed my rest.

_'Mmmm, sleep. Is there anything better? In my nice comfy bed with my big comfy covers and my big comfy pillow and...wait, where are my big comfy covers? And why is my bed not big and comfy?'_

I tried to remember what happened when I felt someone caressing my face and cradling me.

_'What happened to me? Okay...think. I was following Sora and we saw that beautiful wall of butterflies and then I..did I pass out? I had to have. But I heard Sora say something about needing to be saved...OH MY GOSH SORA.'_

My eyes shot open and I tried to sit up.

"Sora I'm coming!" I exclaimed.

I felt a pair of arms pull me back down and a slight laugh from beside me.

"I don't know where you were planning on going, but I'm right here," Sora said.

I looked over and realized I had been sleeping in Sora's lap. I had been snuggling up to him and he was holding me while I slept.

"What...what happened?" I asked.

"Dunno. We climbed that wall, sealed the keyhole, and then when I was trying to talk to you, you kind of just passed out."

"I'm sorry...I don't even know what came over me. Are you okay though? I remember you saying something about needing to be saved..."

"Oh, yeah I'm fine. Just trying to get you to wake up."

There was a moment of silence.

"Sora...I'm sorry for earlier. I snapped on you for no reason. I was just really worried about Jane, and I flipped for no reason. I didn't think you'd take it so hard; I need to come to terms with the fact that you aren't as thick skinned as the people I'm used to spending time with. I didn't mean to make you feel like you weren't strong enough to handle things on your own."

"How did you know...never mind. You have nothing to be sorry about, because you're right; I'm not strong enough to handle things on my own. I worry too much about everyone else to think clearly and it blows up in my face."

"Sora," I said, smiling. "That may be true, but things like that are bound to happen when someone has such a big heart as you. You need to realize though, that we'll all be hurt beyond belief if _you_ get hurt. So watch yourself okay? You know I'll always cover your butt, but that means you gotta cover mine too. So when you go somewhere solo you gotta cover your butt to cover mine...if that makes sense..."

Sora let out a light laugh.

"Yeah, I think I understand."

I pulled back from Sora, realizing a) we were too close and b) this wouldn't be as serious if I was sprawled all over him.

"Alright, I need to tell you something, and you can't get mad..." I trailed off.

He raised his eyebrow and I took that as a sign he wanted me to continue.

"...I went against you wishes, and I swung on a vine. BUT BEFORE YOU GET MAD, IT WAS TO SAVE YOUR BUTT."

"You went vine swinging with an injured shoulder to save me and you're apologizing?"

"Well...yes, cause you told me not to and I don't want you to be mad..."

"Yumi, I'm not mad. I'm a little upset that you had to hurt yourself to save my butt, but I'm just glad you're okay. Especially after the scar on your shoulder got so big!"

I reached up with my left hand and grabbed by right shoulder.

"It got bigger? Maybe that's why it hurt so much...so then why doesn't it hurt now?" I wondered.

"Well, I healed it...I'm sorry but you were passed out and it was really big! It was all I could think of doing," Sora admitted.

"Why did it get bigger though? I mean it's not like I got injured...maybe it had something to do with what Xigbar said. Like with my 'nap' had something to do with you; maybe this was all connected. Tell me, what happened when you guys were fighting?"

"Hmm...nothing really. He was saying all these things about how you'd get hurt if you came to help me. So when I felt that pull for you to come, I had to block it off. I just thought of you getting hurt and although my heart was aching, I felt the pull stop."

I don't know why, but suddenly everything clicked.

"Sora, promise me you won't do that again. When you don't let me help you, I get hurt. My heart was looking for yours and when you blocked me out it took a strain on me, and that's where all my drive comes from. I guess since I wouldn't stop looking my body was trying to find any means possible to stop me."

Sora just nodded. I think he understood, but who the heck knows with this kid.

As if to break us from our in depth talk, I heard familiar voices echo in the cavern.

"Blasted kids! Running around thinking they own the place. What happened to respecting your elders and staying in one place..."

"Oh daddy, we'll find someone soon."

I stood up, followed by Sora, and we rounded the corner that we came in around.

"Jane! Professor Porter!" I shouted as I ran towards the two.

They turned to me and waved as I ran over.

"Thank the heavens the three of you are alright!" I gushed.

"Three...?" Sora questioned.

Jane and I froze.

"Yes...three...Jane, Tarzan and the professor..."

"But where is Tarzan?" the professor asked.

"You haven't run into him yet? I had just assumed since you two were unharmed that he had come to protect you!"

_'Nice save Yumi...really nice.'_

As if on cue, Tarzan fell from the ceiling.

"Oh my goodness Tarzan, don't do that! You almost scared the baby right out of me!" Jane said.

I'll admit, I could talk my way out of almost anything. But there was no saving Jane from that comment as everyone in the room's face changed to a shocked look.

"Baby..." Tarzan grunted.

Jane looked like she was about to cry.

"Well...I mean...what I meant to say was...oh, screw it. Tarzan, I'm pregnant."

All of the guys looked like a dear in headlights, but I just smiled. There was the Jane I knew! Bold and not afraid of anything. Time seemed to have stood still as we waited for Tarzan to say something, ANYTHING, to Jane. Eons later, Tarzan walked over and put a hand on her stomach.

"Me be daddy?" he asked her.

She smiled with tears in her eyes.

"Yes, you'll be a daddy."

Tarzan embraced her, and managed to get out, "We have family," before breaking into tears.

Of course, she reciprocated the action, which caused me to tear up. Trying to hide my emotions, I clapped my hands together and squeezed my eyes shut.

"Well, it's time for us to hit the dusty trail. Everything should be okay here, so please, stay happy and we'll be back to see the baby when it comes!"

I ran over and hugged the professor, followed by hugging the embraced duo quickly. Sora just said some awkward goodbyes and the professor smiled at us.

"You two behave now. I'm happy with only one new baby!" he shouted as we walked to the exit.

I laughed as I turned around to give one last wave.

"C'mon blade boy; let's blow this popsicle stand!"


	13. I Don't Have Big Feet

**Song credit: Never Alone - Barlow Girl**

We got in the ship and I stretched.

"Well, that was fun! But I think I'm ready for a shower," I said.

Sora nodded.

"Yeah, you kind of stink..." Sora joked as he walked towards his room.

"Uhm, excuse me, I only stink because you were holding me. Your stink must have rubbed off on me."

I could tell Sora was rolling his eyes from his room.

"Hurry up and shower so you can steer us to the next world, okay? I don't wanna be in this world anymore..." he yelled from behind a closed door.

I nodded, although he couldn't see me, and walked into my room, grabbing my shower needs. I walked to the bathroom and closed the door behind me, locking it just to be safe. I turned the shower on and undressed, hoping in quickly after that as to not get cold. I let my thoughts get the better of me as I went through my showerly routine.

_'I wonder why Axel was brought back to life. Not that I'm complaining, but I thought they were only bringing back the bad guys. Does that mean Axel is bad? No, he would have been straight up with me; I have to trust in that. And then he was looking for Roxas...but Roxas and Sora were bonded. Does he think that they were disconnected when all this bad crap happened? Blah...too many unanswered questions.'_

**Sora's POV**

While Yumi was in the shower I laid on what I had now deemed my bed. I should have offered to shower first and get us going somewhere, cause girls take forever in the bathroom. I was just staring at the ceiling, not really knowing what I was going to do with myself. I had decided I was going to get Yumi's iPod and just listen to some music, maybe take a nap or something while just relaxing. So, I got up and walked into the cockpit, seeing the iPod placed in the dock. I grabbed it and took it back to my room with me, once again lying on my bed.

_'Hmmmm...what looks good on here.'_

I scrolled few a couple play lists until I saw one that caught my eye.

"Roxy..." I read aloud.

I clicked it and saw that none of the songs were labeled. Weird...I put the ear buds in my ears and decided to just click a random song and listen to it. When the voice started to sing I almost fell off my bed in shock. My _**nobody**_ was singing. Quite well actually. But still, how the heck did she know him?! And how did she get this? I listened to a few more sings, before there was a slight pause and mumbling.

"Guys, I don't wanna do this," a female voice said.

"C'mon, do this...for me," I heard Roxas say.

There was a few shuffling noises, followed by a mumbled, "Okay, for you." There was a creaking noise, and then there was that girl's voice.

"Okay Roxas, this one's for you. Don't say I never gave you anything."

A few piano chords were played, and then I heard the most beautiful voice.

"I waited for you, today. But you didn't show. No, no, no. I needed you today, so where did you go? You told me to call, said you'd be there and though I haven't seen you are you still there? I cried out with no reply and I can't feel you by my side. So I'll hold tight to what I know; you're here and I'm never alone. And though I cannot see you, and I can't explain why, such a deep, deep reassurance you've placed in my life. We cannot separate cause you're part of me. And though you're invisible I'll trust the unseen. I cried out with no reply and I can't feel you by my side. So I'll hold tight to what I know; you're here and I'm never alone. We cannot separate; you're part of me and though you're invisible I'll trust the unseen. I cried out with no reply and I can't feel you by my side. So I'll hold tight to what I know; you're here and I'm never alone...I'll never be alone, now that I've met you Rox."

The song had picked up halfway through with other instruments, so I knew there were other people playing, but all I could imagine was this girl and her piano, singing to my nobody. She must've loved him a lot, to write a song about him like that. I thought I knew that voice, but before I could think too far into it, Roxas' voice came back with the next song. I took out the ear buds and shut off the iPod. This was too much to take in...

"Sora, the bathroom's almost yours! I just gotta get dressed," Yumi's voice broke through my thoughts.

_'Hey that sounds a lot like...'_

"Hey Yumi, could you do me a favour?" I asked.

I didn't even know what I was doing; my body was kind of just acting on impulse.

"And what would that be?" she questioned.

"Bake me one of those cheesecakes that you talked about the night before our adventure? I'm really craving one."

A slight laugh was heard followed by a, "Yeah sure!"

I had just bought myself some time. Perfect. I got up from my bed and looked in the hall to make sure there was no sign of Yumi. When the coast was clear I opened her bedroom door and snuck in. I was going to die if she found me here, but I needed to investigate.

**Yumi's POV**

I got out of the bathroom and walked straight towards the kitchen. I needed to start working on that cheesecake now so it had some time to cool down. So, right away I got everything out and preheated the little oven. I hummed the tune I was planning on using for that song Sora told me to work on and I smiled to myself.

_'As much as that kid drives me bonkers, I'm glad he's around. I don't really know if I could have done this on my own. And it helps that he's super nice to look at...'_

I stopped what I was doing. Did I really just think that?

_'Yeah, you really did. And you know that it's true. You're crushing hard on the kid.'_

N-no I'm not! I thought we already had this discussion. Yes, he looked good, but 'taken' isn't my type. He's got a girlfriend and that's that.

_'But if he didn't...you'd totally like him right?'_

Conversation over, I'm not doing this. To make my point about it, I'm going to finish this damn cake and go drive, just to make myself shut up.

"Hey Sora!" I yelled. "Is my iPod still in the dock?"

**Sora's POV**

I practically leapt out of my skin at the sound of her voice. I was so engrossed in what I was reading that I totally forgot about the world around me.

"Sora?" she shouted.

I threw the book back where I found it and made sure her room looked the exact same way it had before I entered.

"I'll go check!" I responded, walking into the hallway.

I put the iPod back on its dock and walked to the kitchen.

"Yeah, it's still there."

"Perfect! Go shower, and I'll put this cheesecake in the fridge for you and lift off. We'll be at the Enchanted Forest before you know it," she said with a smile.

Guilt was in the pit of my stomach as I forced a smile and nodded. I left the kitchen and went to my room, grabbed a change of clothes and went into the bathroom. I closed the door, turned on the shower and stripped, jumping in the shower quickly. I wanted to get this shower over and done with; I needed to talk to Yumi. Let me explain: I had just read what I was assuming was her diary, or song book, or something like that, and it was very personal. I felt kind of bad for reading it, which is where my guilt stemmed from. But that's not why I wanted to talk to her. I found a picture that she was using for a bookmark. Said picture was of her and Roxas. As if that wasn't enough, he was **kissing** her. I mean, okay, so it was on the cheek, and she looked pretty surprised, BUT STILL, HE KISSED HER. Why did he get to kiss her? Did she want him to? Were they in love? Wasn't she with Riku? I NEED TO FINISH THIS DAMN SHOWER AND ASK HER BEFORE I GO NUTS.

**Yumi's POV**

I turned on my iPod and smiled as a familiar tune bounced through the speakers.

"...Hey, little girl on a spending spree I don't come cheap but the kisses come free. On closer inspection I'm sure that you'll agree. OOOHHHHH! Hey little girl, listen to my plea I come with a lifetime guarantee. And one day maybe we'll find that baby makes three. It's the ladies' choice; I'm the ladies' choice; the ladies' choice. I'm the ladies' choice, choice, choice. I'm the ladies' choice."

I was spinning in my chair and laughing; attempting to sing and smile all at once. I spun around and saw Sora standing in the doorway with an amused smirk on his face with his arms crossed.

"Can I help you?" I asked in a goofy voice.

"Actually, maybe you can. Grab your iPod and follow me please," he said.

I shrugged my shoulders and turned around, put the ship on auto pilot and followed him down the hallway towards the kitchen. When we got there, Sora told me to sit at the table and I obeyed. I watched him as he got out a couple plates, forks, and a knife, before he headed towards the fridge. I took the time to note what Sora actually chose to wear, just to get a sense of his style, of course. He had on a pair of black basketball shorts and a form fitting blue t-shirt. I blushed and looked away, instantly hating myself for not dressing a bit nicer. I was wearing a long sleeved white sweater that was cut at the top and fell off one shoulder and a pair of cut off jean shorts. Yeah, I scream class...

Sora cut two pieces of cake and walked over to the table, placing a plate with cake and a fork in front of me. I raised an eyebrow at him, in attempt to ask him what was going on.

"You once said you could drown your feelings in this cheesecake. I'm kind of betting on it..." he spoke.

There were a few moments of silence before Sora huffed and looked at me.

"I wanna talk to you about Roxas," he stated bluntly. "Did...did you know him?"

"I did know Roxas, very well actually."

"How?" he asked, as he poked his fork into his cake, not looking at me.

Eventually I felt my face fall into a soft smile as Sora looked up at me with confusion.

" Sora, you don't have to be afraid to ask me things like that. I worked with him in the Organization, before they were so 'organized.' I was with Roxas from the moment he was created. You see, when you fought Riku, well...Ansem, and you realized Kairi's heart, I had just parted with the King. I was told to follow Axel and Demyx. They knew you would have a nobody, and I was to make sure that he didn't get corrupt. So, when Roxas was created, I was there to welcome him into the world and I had to explain to him everything that happened. Of course, Axel and Demyx kind of ruined all my story telling by taking me captive and knocking Roxas out so hard that he forgot everything...eventually though, I became friends with the three boys and when Roxas ran away, Axel told me to follow him. I did, and I brought him to Twilight Town: the real one. Riku succumbed to the darkness about two months after that, and I left Roxas in his hands. Before you get all snippy either, Riku didn't know I had even been there in the first place, and I had to personally beg Namine to erase everyone's memory of Roxas or myself."

Sora nodded.

"That playlist on your iPod, called 'Roxy,' that's him singing isn't it?"

My face flushed and I took the iPod out of my pocket and looked at it like it was some sort of big secret to be ashamed of.

"I'm not going to lie Sora, it was him..."

"Did you love him?" he cut in quickly.

My head shot up and I felt my face burn.

"Wha-what?! Why would that matter?" I questioned.

"Well aren't you dating Riku? I feel like that would complicate things..."

I felt myself calm down a bit as I answered Sora.

"Riku and I aren't dating. Trust me, he likes some other chick. And besides, the dude's like my brother. That'd just be weird..."

"Okay...but you never answered my question. Did you love Roxas?"

"I...I don't think so. He was my best friend, and I would never let myself fall for my best friend. Besides, we all knew he was destined for someone else."

"Is that why it was hard to be my friend?" Sora asked. "Because you were so close to Roxas it was hard to see past him to see me?"

I nearly choked on the bite of cheesecake I just took. When I had calmed down I looked at Sora.

"Listen Sora, I know he was your nobody, but you guys are nothing alike. Roxas was a very different guy from you, and I don't think I'd ever confuse the two of you. It was hard for me to like you at first because...well I'll be honest, you were too damn peppy all the time! I didn't know how someone could always be so happy; it was inhuman."

Sora let out a slight laugh.

"Well, when you're friends with Riku, you gotta pretend to be happy all the time so he gets less sad," Sora joked.

_'That's where you're wrong Sora. Seeing you so happy is what drove him to be so sad. He wanted what you have...'_

"Sora? Have you, I don't know, felt Roxas recently?" I asked awkwardly.

Sora shook his head.

"Nope, can't say I have. Why do you ask?"

I shook my head.

"I was just curious. I mean all these other Organization members have been popping up, who's to say they didn't get to Roxas?"

Sora seemed to have thought about it for a moment but then shrugged.

"Guess we'll just have to pass that road when we get there."

I nodded and Sora and I silently ate our cake, minus Sora gushing about how it was the best thing he ever ate. When we were done I grabbed our dishes and put them in the dishwasher.

"I just have one more question for you," Sora said as I was headed towards the cockpit. "Why did you laugh when you looked at me in Deep Jungle? Was I dressed weird?"

I thought back to the incident and remembered, causing me to laugh again. Sora looked slightly agitated, but waited for me to finish.

"Well...?"

"Sora, have you ever noticed every pair of shoes you own makes your feet look like five hundred times bigger than they actually are?"

Sora blushed and looked at his feet.

"They aren't big..." he mumbled.

"Exactly! You wear clown shoes all the time!"

Sora looked up and me and laughed a bit.

"Haha, yeah I guess I do!"

I smiled and nodded, walking out of the room.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to sing more songs from the lovely musical 'Hairspray' while I continue our drive. Please, feel free to sleep while our journey takes place."

I didn't see Sora for the rest of the night, so I'm assuming he went to bed. I was piloting the ship, but I could feel myself falling asleep. So I put the ship on auto pilot and grabbed a blanket I kept near my chair. I wrapped myself up in it and kept my eyes on my surroundings as long as I could before I drifted off into sleep.

**DREAM SEQUENCE**

"...there's no use looking back or wondering, because love is a strange and funny thing."

I was working on Sora's song when I heard someone clapping from behind me. I was in an open meadow that was covered in daisies, so it wasn't the most hidden place in the world. Why was I shocked that someone found me.

"Your voice is just as beautiful as I remembered," I heard a familiar voice say.

I spun around and got up from the piano bench I had been sitting on, running at the blonde that was standing in the field behind me.

"ROXAS!" I shouted, running into his outstretched arms.

He picked me up and we spun around. The white dress I was apparently wearing was surrounding us as we laughed and held each other close.

"God I missed you," he said as he placed me on the ground.

"I missed you more," I whispered in his white buttoned up shirt.

We embraced for an eternity before he pulled back a little bit.

"Listen, I can't stay here long. I just had to see you," he told me.

I nodded.

"Yumi...do you remember, when we went to the studio that one day with all the guys?"

I smiled at him.

"How could I forget?"

He smiled back.

"So then, you remember that day when I told you I finally felt like I had a heart? That it seemed like whenever you were around, I felt whole; complete. Not like I was someone's nobody, but I was my own person."

"Of course...Roxas, what does this have to do with anything?"

"Yumi...you made me a heart. I was, no, I am my own person. And I'll never be able to thank you enough for that."

I scrunched up my face in confusion.

"What are you talking about? You merged with Sora..."

"I know. But when all the Organization members came back, I did too. **Separate** from Sora. And Namine is separate from Kairi too. I promise you, neither of us are in trouble."

"I'm so confused right now...so you're your own person?"

He chuckled.

"Soon. Once everything happens I will be. I just needed to let you know I'm alright. And I'll be seeing you again before you think."

Roxas pulled me close again and kissed me on the top of my head.

"I have to go, Namine needs me. And it seems like Sora's coming to wake you up."

He pulled away and his all white clothed form began to back away.

"Wait, Roxas don't go!"

"Don't forget Yumi, I'll always love you."

I felt like someone had stuck a knife in my heart.

"Roxas...I love you too," I whispered as his form disappeared.

I jolted awake from my dream and saw Sora's worried face looking at mine.

"Are you okay?" he asked me.

He had one hand on my cheek and one on my shoulder, which, when I noticed, caused me to blush.

"Why wouldn't I be?" I asked.

"Well, you were thrashing around screaming, 'No, don't leave me, I love you,' for like ten minutes."

I blushed harder, realizing how embarrassing that must have looked.

"Oh...sorry."

Sora took a step back and I stood up.

"Maybe you should go sleep in your bed for awhile, I'll keep my eye on things up here."

I just nodded and walked to my bedroom. I was just super glad he didn't ask me what I was dreaming about.

**Sora's POV**

Yumi walked to her bedroom and I took a seat in the captain's chair. I grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around myself as I looked around for enemy ships or any sign of the world. I felt my eyes drooping; thank god autopilot was still on. Before I knew it, I was asleep.

**DREAM SEQUENCE**

I was lying on the beach on Destiny Island, just relaxing and wasting the day away. Not a care in the world and not a bad guy around; yes this was the life.

"Wow...at least Yumi's dream was something unique. Why are you so unoriginal?" a male voice asked from behind me.

I didn't even have to get up to know the voice was Roxas. His stupid voice had been in my head all day.

"What do you want from me?" I asked, sitting up and looking at the kid.

He was wearing white pants and a white button up shirt, which was weird since we were on an island...

"I came to talk to you about Yumi..."

I practically jumped up from my sitting position and minimized the gap that was between the two of us.

"What about Yumi?!"

Roxas pushed me back a little and brushed off his clothes.

"First, please, can we get out of this damn heat? I'm dying here."

He snapped his fingers and we were suddenly in an open meadow filled with daisies.

"You thought this was more appropriate?" I said sarcastically.

I was wearing the same thing as Roxas, except my outfit was all in black. I had my arms crossed over my chest and he had his in his pockets, looking kind of nervous.

"Sorry, this was as close to Yumi's dream as I could get. But that's not important. Right now I need to tell you something that you won't be too happy about. So, promise not to hit me?"

I rolled my eyes.

"Fine."

He let out a breath.

"Sora, I screwed things up. Really, REALLY badly for the both of us. I broke Yumi's heart."

The moment the sentence left his lips I was ready to punch his lights out, but I contained my anger.

"Pardon me?"

"Look, I was stupid. When she was locked up at the Organization I fell for her: hard. So when I ran, I thought I was finally free of her and the way I felt about her. But she got out and came after me. After that I knew I loved her, and it was pretty obvious to the world that she loved me back. But one night, a guy in a black coat came to me and told me that a nobody and a somebody couldn't be together. And he was right: it was never going to happen. So, I became really distant from her. I told her that the stars told me that one day I would find the love of my life, but not until I got rid of all the things that were holding me back. I told her **she** was holding me back. And it tore her apart, I could tell. I blew it. When I saw her start to cry, I tried to tell her I was kidding and I really did love her, but she wouldn't listen. She told me I was right and that there was someone great waiting for me. I...I never saw her again after that until I merged with you. I'll admit, I did fall for Namine in the meantime and she's great. But Sora, I'll forever regret what I did to her. I'll always have a spot in my heart for her, but I don't think I'll ever truly get over her."

That was it, I punched him square in the jaw. Roxas flew back and let out a chuckle.

"I expected that earlier..."

"YOU JERK! WHAT GIVES YOU ANY RIGHT TO EVEN TALK TO ME ABOUT THIS, LET ALONE TRY AND SEE YUMI. FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE MY OTHER HALF; THE OTHER PART OF THE GOOD GUY I AM."

Roxas stood up and brushed himself off.

"Look, I'm sorry. I messed up and I apologized to her. But let's face the reality that we're in. She's gotten over me, mostly. The last step of her getting over me is finding someone else. And Sora, I think that someone else is you. I'm telling you this to help you."

"HA! As if. She would never go for a guy like me," I spat.

"Dude...she went for a guy like me. And essentially I was you. Therefore she will go for you."

"Wait, was?"

It was Roxas turn to roll his eyes.

"Look, now's not the time. Just know that we are no longer attached, but trust me you'll be fine. I came here to give you my blessing about going after one of my favourite girls, and to let her know that if you break her heart like I did, so help me God I will make sure there is only one of us standing and it will be me. Now," he pulled back a few bush branches to show me another clearing. This one held Yumi sitting in the middle humming to herself. "I know you've only 'known each other for a short amount of time and there's no way for you to like her,' but trust me, you do. It may not be love yet, but you and I both know you like her. And I'm not expert, but I'm pretty sure she likes you too. So, now's your time to go test the waters and put yourself out there."

I looked at him like he was crazy.

"What are you asking me to do here? Go over and be like 'Hey Yumi, just want you to know I like you a lot. Kay have a good one!' As if..."

"Who cares! It's a dream, say whatever you want. She won't know we set this up, so now's your chance to say whatever you want and get it off your chest. GO!"

He pushed me into the clearing and I stumbled. Stupid feet...


	14. At Least They Aren't Nobodies

**Song credit: Beauty from pain - Superchick (minor editing so it fits better)**

"Who's there?" Yumi asked, getting up from her seated position.

_'Gotta play this cool Sora...'_

I reached down and plucked a flower from the field.

"Sora, is that you?" she asked as I approached.

"H-hi Yumi..."

She smiled at me.

"What are you doing here?"

I looked down at the flower I was holding and stuck it out towards her.

"This is for you!" I said quickly.

"Oh, a calla lily. My favourite!"

I looked down and noticed all the flowers around us, including the one in my hand, had changed.

_'Whatever, it's a dream...'_

She took the flower and placed it behind her ear. It stood out next to her dark hair and dress. She looked beautiful...

"You never answered my question. What are you doing here?"

She broke me from my thoughts and I was quick to regain composure.

"I...I came to see you. I wanted to tell you something."

I couldn't bring the words to my mouth, so she grabbed my hand for reassurance.

"Sora, you know you can tell me anything," she said with a smile.

I blushed and smiled back. Why was this so hard! I saw a piano and a bench behind her so I led her over to the bench. I just needed to sit, in case I passed out. She looked a little confused but smiled at me anyway, just waiting for what I had to say.

"Yumi...I...do you play the piano?" I asked, chickening out.

She giggled and nodded.

"Would you like to hear something?"

It was my turn to nod and she turned to face the piano and placed her hands over the keys.

"Now, even if you don't like it, pretend you do so I don't feel bad okay?"

She took a deep breath and began to play.

"The lights go out all around me. One last candle to keep out the night and then the darkness surrounds me. I know I'm alive but I feel like I've died and all that's left is to accept that it's over. My dreams ran like sand through the fists that I made. I try to keep warm but I just grow colder; I feel like I'm slipping away. After all this has passed, I still will remain. After I've cried my last, there'll be beauty from pain. Though it won't be today, someday I'll hope again and there'll be beauty from pain. Please just bring beauty from my pain. My whole world is the pain inside me. The best I can do is just get through the day. When life before is only a memory I wonder why God lets me walk through this place. And though I can't understand why this happened I know that I will when I look back someday and see how this brought beauty from ashes and made me as gold purified through these flames. After all this has passed, I still will remain. After I've cried my last, there'll be beauty from pain. Though it won't be today, someday I'll hope again and there'll be beauty from pain. I hope for beauty from my pain. Here I am at the end of me trying to hold to what I can't see. I forgot how to hope; this night's been so long. I cling to the promise there will be a dawn. After all this has passed, I still will remain. After I've cried my last, there'll be beauty from pain. Though it won't be today, someday I'll hope again and there'll be beauty from pain. I pray for beauty from my pain."

She stopped playing and there was a tear running down her cheek.

"Yumi...did you write that?" I asked her, wiping away the tear.

"Heh, yeah...I lied to you today Sora. I loved Roxas, a lot. He...he hurt me really badly. And I think it makes me scared to let myself fall in love again. But I knew from the start he was meant for Namine, just like you were meant for Kairi. It was fate. I still let myself fall for him like an idiot though. God I'm stupid..."

More tears were falling down her cheeks and I kept wiping them away.

"Hey, hey, hey, you're wrong okay? It was his fault for being such an ass and taking advantage of that big beautiful heart of yours. You aren't stupid. And you need to know, I'm not meant for Kairi."

"What are you talking about? Of course you guys are meant to be together. You've been dating for a billion years; trust me, Riku tells me all the time how jealous he is that you got 'his girl.' Besides, she's a Princess of light and you're the keyblade master. It's like the perfect match."

_'I KNEW HE LIKED KAIRI. Ah well, why do I care?'_

"Yumi, Kairi and I broke up the afternoon they were taken. Did Riku not tell you?"

She looked a little shocked.

"No, but that would explain why he was so happy when he came over..."

I smiled at her.

"Besides, if I was with Kairi, I would be in a lot of trouble."

"For what?"

"For doing this..."

I leaned her head up and pressed my lips to hers. I really didn't know why I did it. She didn't kiss back so I began to pull away. Then her hands suddenly shot up to my head and pulled me back in, pressing her lips on mine. There were fireworks and explosions and birds singing somewhere and just...whoa...Eventually we broke apart, although our foreheads were still pressed together. I let out a small laugh, which caused her to blush.

"God, I'm so glad I'm falling for you," I breathed out.

"The feeling's mutual," she said happily.

I pulled back a fair bit and looked at her.

"You're glad I'm falling for you too?"

Laughing, she said, "Well I meant that I'm glad that **I'm** falling for you, but it's pretty nice you like me back."

Quietly, I whispered, "Are you sure you aren't falling for Roxas again?"

She stopped laughing and scooted closer to me.

"Sora, I told you I wouldn't lie to you. Lord knows this has got to be a dream because I'm being so ballsy, which means I have no reason to lie to you right? Right. So let me put this down on record: you are nothing like Roxas. He was the bad boy with a soft interior. He acted one way but was a different way around everyone else. You're upfront and honest; kind and good looking; the guy who won't up and leave you when times get hard. You're my dream guy, and I wouldn't have it any other way."

I knew I had the biggest smile on my face, but I didn't care. She liked me. Not Roxas, not Riku, but **ME. **I was about to pull her in for another kiss when suddenly things around us were beginning to disappear. DAMNIT, we were waking up. This could not be happening...why now?! Things were getting distorted and blurry, and then suddenly everything was black.

**Yumi's POV.**

I woke up with a jolt. I was just having the best dream ever, WHY BODY, WHY?!

_'So the dream with Sora is the best dream ever eh?'_

Oh shut up, it's too friggen early.

I got out of bed and stretched, walking towards my door and opening it. I looked in the cockpit and saw Sora stirring, so I walked into the kitchen and started to make coffee, bacon and eggs. By the time it was done Sora was in the kitchen sitting at the table. I brought him over some food and coffee and then made my own plate and sat across from him.

"So," Sora asked as I stirred my coffee, "did you have any better dreams after you went to sleep in your own bed?"

I dropped the spoon I was holding and blushed. There was no way he knew what I was dreaming about, right?

"Uhm, nothing that I can remember! But I slept soundly so it must have been good..."

We ate breakfast in silence and Sora grabbed the dishes after we were done.

"I'm going to go see how close we are to the next world okay? Just turn on the dishwasher before you come follow!"

He nodded and cleaned up what was left out as I walked towards the cockpit. Too weird...

A few minutes later Sora came and sat next to me.

"We're almost there Sora, just like five more minutes," I told him.

"Dumb question, but do you play the piano?" Sora asked out of nowhere.

"I could try, but I would be horrible at it. Where are all these questions coming from this morning?"

I was getting freaked out. Had Sora had the same dream I had?

"Oh, I thought I heard someone playing the other day. Must've imagined it."

I sat silent until the world came into view.

"Alright, let's go find us a princess and some dwarfs!" I said, getting up from my seat.

Sora smiled and followed me out the door of the ship. We walked into the dark forest and immediately I felt uncomfortable. I took a few steps forward and looked around to see if I knew where we were.

"Ugh, I hate this forest. It's so...eerie. Okay, let's get this right; last time I was here Snow White and the prince were getting married, and the dwarfs were off in their own little world. Hmm, wonder who we should see first?"

"Let's just walk towards somewhere that has people, cause this place freaks me out."

I nodded and we walked towards what looked like a lighter part of the forest. I walked pretty close to Sora, since this forest gave me the heebie jeebies. I did not want to get lost out here on my own and have to try and find a way out. We walked for just under a half hour until we came upon a clearing with a small little hut.

"Look Sora, that's where the dwarfs live!" I exclaimed.

I picked up my pace and practically ran to the clearing, just so I didn't have to be in that forest anymore. Sora was quick to follow and when we walking into the sunlight I took the time to note what we were wearing. I had on black ballet flats with a little black bow on the tops, a traditional peasant's dress that had a grey bottom and a white long thee-quarter sleeved shirt with a light blue corset like vest over top. Yeah, I suck at explaining my clothes...sue me. My hair was done up in a low braid and I had a ribbon that tied a bow around my head. Sora was in an outfit similar to the prince's: he had on black pants with tall black boots, a white long sleeved shirt with a red and yellow vest thing over top and a blue cape.

_'Of course, Sora's gotta be a Prince Charming kind of guy and I'm the unworthy peasant girl...art reflects life I suppose.'_

"C'mon, let's see if anyone is home. I miss the small guys," I said.

I lead the way to the door of the cottage and Sora obediently followed. I knocked on the door and waited for an answer. Nothing. So, I tried again. There was some feet shuffling, but there was still no answer.

"Hello! Guys it's Yumi; please open up," I spoke to the door.

A few mumbles were heard, and then the door was swung open. Doc was standing on the other side with a small smile on his face.

"Yumi! It's so good to see you again. And, you brought a friend. Please, come in."

Doc stepped aside and Sora and I walked into the little cottage. It was very homey, with a couple rooms on the main floor and one giant bedroom and a bathroom on the upper floor. We walked in to the kitchen/living room area as Doc closed the door behind us. He walked to the center of the room and smiled.

"Okay everyone, it's safe to come out!"

Slowly, the rest of the dwarves came into view. Each one seemed to have a sense of relief wash over them as they saw Sora and I standing in the doorway.

"Hi guys, it's good to see you again!" I said to them.

"Who's that guy?" Grumpy asked.

"Oh this? This is Sora. Sora, this is Sneezy, Sleepy, Bashful, Doc, Happy, Dopey and Grumpy."

Each one respectively gave a wave or nod.

"Why were you all hiding?" Sora asked.

They all looked uneasily at each other as if debating giving us an answer. Eventually Doc stepped forward.

"It's...it's Snow White. None of us know what's wrong with her! It was like the moment she got married some crazy force over took her and she went crazy! She started enforcing all these crazy laws and said we were beneath her. We tried to go to the castle to see her and she said 'If you don't have diamonds for me then you can just leave.' I thought...I thought she liked us..." he trailed off.

_'What is wrong with people!? You marry into power and you go psycho.'_

"Listen...I'll go talk to her and see what's going on. There has to be a reasonable explanation for this. Just point me in the direction of the castle and this will all be fixed ASAP!"

The dwarfs gave a small cheer and lead Sora and I towards the door. After giving us some pretty straight forward directions, Sora and I began our trek to the castle.

"Sora, can I ask you something?" I asked after a few minutes of walking.

He made a grunting sound to let me know he was listening.

"I mean, not that I'm complaining or anything, but...where are all the heartless and nobodies? I thought they were supposed to be making a comeback..."

As if that was all they were waiting for, the dark forest was lit by a million yellow eyes.

"You just had to mention that in the darkest forest imaginable didn't you?" Sora murmured.

"Hehe...whoops! So what's the plan: take them all on at once or run like a bunch of cowards?"

Sora took a minute and looked around the forest and seemed to debate it.

"Well, in my opinion, there are two of us...and probably about five gazillion of them. I'm thinking it's in our best interest to run," he deduced.

"Well then, ladies first! After you."

I could tell he was rolling his eyes.

"Shouldn't you be running then?" he asked.

"And leave your slow butt behind? Hell no. I'll fend them off until you're in the clear and I'll meet you at the castle."

The yellow eyes seemed to be moving closer and closer to us.

"I'm not leaving without you."

"Well, I'm not leaving till you go blade boy. So hurry up and get outta here before we get attacked."

The next thing I knew Sora had his blade out and he was grabbing my hand.

"God, why do you have to be so stubborn?" he yelled as he began running in the direction of the castle.

"What?! All I'm trying to do is make sure you're safe."

"I'm just trying to do the same for you."

We both had our keyblades in our free hands and were slashing at whatever dared to jump at us along the run. I swear, it seemed like there was no end to the chaos. Almost as if to make it worse, Sora piped into my thought process.

"Hey, at least they aren't nobodies!"


End file.
